


The Moonlight Howls

by saltylikecrait



Series: The Moonlight Howls [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, Arguing, Character Death, Dubious Science, F/M, Genetics, Making Up, Minor Injuries, Relationship Problems, Speciesism, Violence, Wakes & Funerals, Werewolf Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2020-01-25 15:05:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 30
Words: 65,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18576937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltylikecrait/pseuds/saltylikecrait
Summary: In the aftermath of Han Solo's murder, Finn finds himself in the middle of a war between werewolf packs.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a continuation of the one-shot _[Through Paths Where Wolves Fear.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15659856)_

_“Finn…!”_

A whine from the bedroom got his attention, and he peeked his head in to see what all the fuss was about. Laughing, he shook his head at the sight in front of him

Sitting on their bed, Rey was half-dressed and red in the face. She slipped one arm of a gray blazer on, but the rest of the outfit sat limp behind her. Her arm was out of its sling, but she couldn’t reach to grab the other arm without hurting her shoulder more.

“Here,” he offered. “Let me-"

Finn pulled the other half of the blazer around and carefully helped Rey maneuver her arm through the sleeve without moving it too much. Then, when that was done, he helped her loop the sling back around her neck and got her arm situated. She had full use of her hand and arm, so he hoped for Rey’s sake that the injury would heal up enough soon so she could just wear a brace around her shoulder.

While she was out on leave from work, she normally just wore a tank top and a blanket around the house, but today was her uncle’s funeral and she wanted to look nice for that and stay warm out in the mid-December weather.

They counted their lucky stars they only ended up with a dislocated shoulder and marks that would likely scar after their encounter with Rey’s cousin. Ben Solo was no more, and in his place rose Kylo Ren, a feral werewolf with a small pack of his own. Finn was still learning all the werewolf lingo, but he knew as soon as he heard the term that _feral_ wasn’t good. 

A feral wolf was a danger to both humans and werewolves and it was becoming more common. Once, it only meant a werewolf that shifted into his wolf form and never transformed back into a human. Those individuals were literal lone wolfs and slowly they forgot what it was like to be human. Rey’s grandfather had become one after her grandmother died giving birth to her children, and he murdered countless humans and killed local livestock until his adult son put a stop to everything. Those twenty years had been nerve-wracking for the pack because they knew if they weren’t careful, Anakin Skywalker’s mistake could cost them their lives. They wanted to remain hidden from humans, choosing to reveal their heritage only to those they selected to be mates. If anyone made that secret known to the world, they didn’t trust that the rest of the humans wouldn’t hunt them down and slaughter them all. It had happened many times in the past and it could always happen again.

Now, there were packs of feral werewolves running around and creating chaos. Humans killed real wolves in mistake, thinking that the small number of gray wolves in the region were killing sheep and cattle. The werewolves just wanting to live their lives peacefully now lived in guilt and fear.

Kylo had been radicalized and no one in his family knew when exactly he first started down that road. Rey had her suspicions he might have gotten involved with a group online, either on Reddit or a forum. There were plenty of places where werewolves could talk to each other openly; most humans just assumed these spaces were for roleplay.

Most feral werewolf packs wanted to distance themselves from humans out of their hatred for them that stemmed from years of hiding and fear. Kylo went farther by declaring that it would be better that humans learned to fear the wolves, starting with those who had been the mates of the pack. 

Finn was lucky that he got away. Han was not. How someone could kill their father when he had been nothing but kind and doting was beyond Finn. Rey was close to her uncle and between the attack and his death, she had become despondent most of the time she was awake, trying to distract herself with every auto magazine she could get her hands on in the shop beneath their apartment. 

It was terrifying to take his first steps out of their apartment when he knew a werewolf could be waiting around to finish the job, but Rey and her family believed that he was safe in the city. It would be hard for a wolf to hide in a place so crowded. He wasn’t sure when Rey’s next Change would be because of her injury halting the process, but she told him she didn’t want him to go to the cabin with her until her family had found Kylo and killed him.

Feral wolves that attacked humans were sentenced to death by the pack. If Kylo went to another region, the pack reigning there would also uphold that. The family suspected that his feral pack was hiding in the southern region of the state where there were bigger forests to hide in without coming across a human often. That area also wasn’t claimed as another pack’s territory.

Yet.

Finn adjusted his black jacket and waited for Rey to finish up with getting dressed. He went back to the kitchen to move a brunch casserole into a dish for travel and put that into a canvas bag. His shoulder ached from where Kylo bit him, but it hurt nowhere near what Rey was feeling. He could handle moving a dish for a funeral potluck.

The car ride over to the funeral home was silent. He didn’t know what to say to his girlfriend in that situation that would make anything better.

* * *

The first person to greet him when they arrived to the funeral was Poe Dameron, his best friend from his army days that also happened to be a werewolf in Rey's pack. The world felt so much smaller when he found out the guy he drank with on Friday nights also was his girlfriend's childhood babysitter and grew a tail on the night of the full moon. 

"Buddy," he sighed as he pulled Finn into a loose hug, trying to be careful in case Finn was still hurt. They hadn't talked at all since the night of the incident. "Are you two all right?" Poe looked between Finn and Rey and his dark eyes widened at the sight of the sling over her. "Okay, not all right. God, he really is a beast now." Drawing a hand through his hair, Poe had never looked more terrified before. 

Nodding, Rey quietly left the circle and went over to sit on chair in the corner of the main room of the funeral home. Glancing her way, Poe gave her a mournful look.

"Leia wants to see you," he whispered to Finn. 

They turned into the direction of a crowd, where many of the direct family members stood. Senator Organa, petite but commanding stood in the center, surrounded by well-wishers wanting to give her their condolences. At times, it looked like she was the one comforting the mourners more than they were comforting her. The few times they had met, Finn found that he liked her. He thought a state senator would be harder to talk to or look down to someone like himself, instead, Leia only had been welcoming and warm. She had been the one to answer Finn's call for help the morning after the last full moon, making sure he and Rey got to the right hospital for treatment. 

The moment he entered the crowd, she excused herself and approached him.

“How’s the shoulder?” The dark circles under her eyes made her face seem sunken. Finn wondered if she was sleeping well.

He shrugged, though regretted it when a twinge of slight pain shot through his arm. “It’s not too bad,” he insisted. “Maybe a little sore.”

“I’m sorry.” Her voice was weak, but she meant it. It was her son that did that.

“And I’m sorry for your loss.” He hadn’t known Han for long, but even in his grumpiness, he was a likeable guy. 

Senator Organa glanced over at her niece, who was staring blankly at a vase of flowers in a corner. “How’s Rey?”

In most instances, Finn would have lied to save the added grief, but he knew that wouldn’t work. Senator Organa read people too well and her niece was standing nearby to prove that she wasn’t all right. He sighed.

“Not… great,” he decided to say. “She’s taking everything hard.”

“She and Han were very close,” observed Leia. She seemed to remember something. “We’re going to read the will next week. I know he’s left her a couple of things.”

“Chewie gonna still run the shop?” Finn asked as he craned his neck to see the large man with his wild hair and beard telling stories of his youth. He looked like a scary guy, but everyone knew he was a big softy, though Finn could barely understand a word he said. He had a thick, Eastern European accent and no one knew exactly where he was from. 

Leia nodded. “Probably. At least, I expect he would.”

“Rey might want to help with that. I don’t think she would quit her job though.”

“Han wouldn’t want her to. He was proud of her.” She patted Finn on the back. "I'll visit you two in a couple of days. It would be nice to see you without everyone else around." Then, she turned back to reenter the crowd.

Luke Skywalker, grizzled and just as tired-looking as his sister, caught Finn's eye. He nodded to acknowledge him but that was as far as their interaction went. Rey told her father she wanted him to leave her and Finn alone for a bit and it seemed like he was honoring that request. Luke might not have been in the mood to talk either. Kylo had challenged him to a fight that night, and by loosing, Luke failed to protect his family and keep the pack together. His arm was heavily bandaged. Likely, whatever was under those was proof of that defeat.

Finn returned to Rey's side to find that a pair of women who looked like siblings were sitting next to her, chatting. He'd never seen them before and wasn't sure if they were just friends of the family or part of the pack. He hadn't met any pack members with an Asian heritage before so he wasn't sure if he should be quiet about the werewolf thing or not. They might just be human friends of the family.

The oldest of the two looked up at him when he approached and stood up with her arm outstretched. "You must be Finn," she said with a smile. "I'm Paige, an old friend of Rey's."

He shook her hand, firmly. "Nice to meet you." He looked at the other woman curiously.

She also stood up. "I'm her sister, Rose. We're all old friends. Rey and I also work together." Looking a little nervous, she also held her hand out to shake his.

Now, that was a name he recalled Rey mentioning, he just figured he hadn't met all of her friends yet.

"That was a really brave thing you did," Paige continued. 

"Uh..." Finn wasn't sure how to go about this conversation.

She smiled. "The whole pack knows. Not many humans would be able to fight Kylo like you did. Even us wolves don't want to pick a fight with him."

He still wasn't sure how to talk about this. "Thanks? I guess...?"

Paige laughed. "Don't worry, we won't keep embarrassing you."

"We're going to sit with Poe during the funeral," added Rose. "If you want to sit with us."

"Thank you," he accepted the offer, knowing he wouldn't be able to sit with Rey in the family part of the pews. Maybe one day, but he wasn't an official family member yet.

The funeral was a simple affair, though tons of people turned up to give their respects. There was no casket to look into. Han was not a religious man, and he wanted to be cremated before being laid to rest in a vault where his wife would one day be placed beside him. Even if he wanted a burial, they wouldn’t be able to show the body. Finn heard he looked bad after Kylo was done and the coroner couldn’t fix him up very well. The werewolves even had a special coroner to deal with them after death, this one signing off Han’s death as a heart-attack to not rouse the suspicions of the authorities. The pack didn’t need that and Senator Organa didn’t want the press on her doorstep hounding her about patricide. 

He sat behind Rey’s family, where she was seated next to her father. Finn heard the whispers going around the pews. Ben Solo’s absence was noted by those that didn’t know what the family was. Most of the old women there tutted that Ben had been an ungrateful, spoiled child.

Finn would love to agree with them, if he didn’t bear the bite marks of the man on his shoulder.

When the service was over and Han was laid to rest, Finn and Rey politely spent time with her family and ate brunch with them until exhaustion had them both wanting to go home. 

He talked to his mothers to tell them how the funeral was and avoided telling them about the injury. Because of the drama around Han’s sudden death and Rey’s injury blamed on an accident at work, he thought it would be best to avoid talking about his own shoulder. His moms didn’t want him to move halfway across the country to start with, the last thing he needed was them hounding him about moving back to the Midwest because he likely wouldn’t be mauled by wolves there. 

Changing into sweats, he changed the bandage on his shoulder and inspected it. He didn’t think the marks would look too bad once they healed up, at least, they wouldn’t look as bad as the scar running down his spine. That was something he got back in when he was serving overseas and came back home to face months of physical and mental therapy. If there was one good thing about the scar though, it was that he wouldn’t have met Rey if he didn’t get it. He wouldn’t have needed anyone to hold the door open for him in class and she might not have ever spoken to him if he hadn’t.

In the other room, he could hear Rey crying. 

He shuffled inside and, just as tired as she was, he settled down next to her on the bed. Placing his hand over her hip, he hoped that they could find some small comfort in each other and rest.

* * *

She couldn’t sleep at night, though she made sure not to rouse Finn as he slept next to her. He had learned how to deal with stress that came from the aftermath of such an event and he also had pills to help him sleep. Maybe in a few weeks, if she couldn’t work through it, she thought she would call her doctor to get something too. Her medical records now said she had suffered an accident at work, a fabricated story of how heavy equipment wasn’t stored properly and fell on her, but her doctor knew better.

Her mate being beside her made things a little easier. When she woke up frightened after seeing the snarling face of her cousin in her dreams, Rey could look over and remind herself that she protected Finn and that he was safe and right next to her. It would be odd to say that scent was comforting, but to a wolf, her mate’s scent was calming. Finn had his own unique musk that flooded her senses when they were in bed together, but she could also smell notes of old, musty books from the college library, the coffee he drank every morning, and the grass from the park blocks near the school. 

As a human, Finn could not distinguish her scent the way she could, but Rey wondered what he would smell all the same.

Her tablet sat on her lap, backlight dimmed to not bother Finn. Browser open, she made searches for her cousin’s name and the name he went by now, only to find a dead end in what she was looking for. She couldn’t access his Facebook page, though she suspected that she could not find what she was looking for there either, and his Reddit username wasn’t giving her the results she wanted.

A thought came to her as she searched general topics revolving around her kind: her cousin might have another account that he used just to communicate with the feral wolves.

She knew her family would tell her it wouldn’t do to be obsessed with this, but the encounter with her cousin left her shaken and not only would she live better knowing he wasn’t out in the world anymore, she wanted to make sure that her mate was safe.

Reading subreddits in the werewolf topics made her feel uncomfortable, but she knew she had to understand why Kylo became so radicalized that he would murder his father. Well, actually, she probably would never understand that for as strained as her relationship with her own father was, she never thought about killing him. 

The wolves on the website that seemed legit and not humans doing roleplay were all young and angry. Feeling isolated in their anger, they sought each other out, encouraging each other to leave the safety of the pack to break the mold. Werewolves, in their opinion, were the superior species and why should they forever be hiding in the shadows when the humans should be the ones afraid. They called half-wolves (which, ironically, made up the most of all werewolves) traitors to the species and insisted that breeding only be kept within their own kinds. 

Well, Rey could only count a number of young werewolves that lived near her and all of them were either not interested in her or they were women. She didn’t know what her cousin’s preferences were, or if he even cared honestly, but he was the only young male around and incest wasn’t really her thing. That basically was why interbreeding was so common. There was about a twenty-five percent chance that someone half-human wouldn't be a werewolf and after facing extinction every couple of decades, there just weren’t a lot of them left.

She paused in her thoughts when she came across something promising.

The moment she saw a user named _KnightOfRen_ lamenting his shame of being half-human, she knew she had found what she was looking for.


	2. Chapter 2

Staying at home while Rey went to be with her family for the reading of her uncle’s will, Finn invited Poe over to watch the latest soccer match – Poe insisted to call it _football_ to be annoying. It was a topic of usual argumentation, a playful quip to get on each other’s nerves.

However, this game proved to be a boring one with not a lot of action. They were rooting for the home team, but this year they were good and stood a chance of winning each game. The other team, not so much.

“Can you tell me more about werewolf terms?” Finn finally asked when there was another lull in the game. “I just realized that most of the people in my life have turned out to be one, and I’d really like to know what they are talking about.”

Poe grinned and sat his beer down on the coffee table. “Sure.”

Deciding to get the big question out in the air, Finn took a deep breath. “What’s the difference between a boyfriend and a mate?”

His friend looked shocked. “Has Rey-?”

Nodding, Finn continued, “The morning after the attack. She told her family she was protecting her mate.”

Another grin spread across Poe’s face. He reached over to give Finn a playful, light punch on the arm. “We’ll be hearing wedding bells soon,” he joked.

Finn’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?” he asked.

“No, Finn. I was joking. That’s up to the two of you.”

“Oh,” he heaved a deep sigh. This hadn't cleared up anything. “So what’s the difference?”

Lacing his fingers together nervously, Poe took a moment to think about what he would say. “It’s more of an _emotional_ bond kind of thing for wolves,” he started. “Like, even more so than getting married to someone.”

“I don’t understand,” said Finn.

“I wouldn’t expect a human to,” replied Poe with a smile as he leaned back against the couch. “Wolves pick a mate carefully, even a human. They’re the people we become so bonded to that we would die for them and die without them. That’s why we’re always debating how compatible wolves and humans are,” he added. “Humans can break up with someone and usually be able to get back to their lives quickly; for wolves, a breakup with a mate is devastating. It’s not uncommon to hear us say that someone died of a broken heart.”

Finn felt his heart speed up when he realized something. “Wait, so is Leia-?”

“She’ll be fine, I think,” Poe tried to assure him. “She’s hurting, but she still has things to live for. I don’t see her finding another mate later though – that can happen,” he said. “Sometimes, once separation in permanent, we can bond again with someone else.”

“No pressure or anything?” Finn raised his eyebrow.

Laughing, Poe patted his friend’s leg. “You’ll be fine,” he said. “If you didn’t walk out on Rey after that… night,” he frowned at the thought, “you’ll make it.” A different look struck Poe’s face. His mouth dropped, horrified. “God, how could Ben…?” he said this almost to himself.

“You knew him, didn’t you?”

Poe nodded and reached forward to grab his beer again. “Yeah, we grew up together.” He took a large gulp. “I mean, we weren’t close when we got older. At first, I thought he hated me when I came out of the closet, but then I realized it was probably more that we just grew apart. And now all this is happening-" Groaning, he tried to glance at the score again. “This game really sucks, huh?”

“Did he always hate humans?” It didn’t sound like it from Rey’s perspective, but sometimes people hid things from their family and not to their friends.

“That’s the thing, he never seemed to. None of us can figure it out except that we think he talked to people online, and that changed him.”

Rey seemed to think the same, but Finn was worried that she was obsessing over her cousin and hoped she wasn't focusing all her energy on figuring out when exactly he changed his attitude. Finn thought she was staying up late out of boredom and just surfing the web until she left her laptop open when she went to use the bathroom and he saw a tab open to an anti-human Reddit thread. It made him panic at first, until he realized that she wasn’t logged in and looked more like she was browsing. He didn’t mean to violate her privacy, but it was hard not to jump to conclusions considering what just happened.

It took another couple of days to realize that she was conducting her own investigation into the issue. Finn had no idea what she was up to, but it certainly wasn’t that she was having second-thoughts about humans. He hoped whatever came out of Han’s will was positive for her and would distract her from the social media.

But if Rey thought of him as his mate, then she saw him as something more than a short-term relationship and genuinely wanted to be with him. Already, she proved just how far she would go by attacking her cousin to get him away from Finn. The idea of someone being a mate almost seemed territorial, but it also didn’t bother him. He would have killed Kylo to protect her too.

He thought about this as he went back to his drink, trying to enjoy the game. But his thoughts of Rey led him to another question: if Kylo was still out there, would he eventually not care that Finn was hiding in a city and just show up at his doorstep one day to finish the job? Rey didn’t think so, but Finn wasn’t sure and it made him paranoid when he went out. Part of him was certain that if he didn't watch his back, he would find a wolf snapping at his neck again.

Then, there was still the issue of why Rey had brought a gun with silver bullets on their last trip for the Change.

Finn had his suspicions too, but he also reminded himself that Rey wanted to keep a weapon around for Finn in case anything bad were to happen. She may not have expected her own family to attack, but she knew the risks of werewolves becoming dangerous to humans. He accepted that fact, and she never hid that darker side of being lupine to him. Even then, he figured being attacked by a wolf was as likely as a human attacking him in his own home.

He just wondered now if the worst was truly over.

* * *

Waiting outside her workplace, Paige Tico fastened the last button on her coat, hoping to keep as much warmth it offered to herself. In winter, she often wished that she could live some place warmer, but then she reminded herself that this region didn’t get snowstorms like the rest of the country and counted her blessings for that. Besides, all the trees were beautiful and gave the pack a place to hide when they wanted to run in their wolfskin.

Her sister pulled up in her car and she jumped into the passenger’s seat. “’Bout time you got here,” she grunted as she pulled the seat belt across her body.

“Sorry,” Rose breathed. “Got stuck at that light up at the McDonald’s. You know how bad it gets around lunchtime.”

“I guess we should go up to the carts, then,” Paige suggested, "if we only got a half-hour."

Few people were willing to stand outside to get lunch at a food cart in freezing cold weather, so the carts lined up along the street were relatively uncrowded. They stood at the front of a cart painted green, serving some of the best Thai food in the area and looked over the menu.

“I have some news,” Paige whispered to her sister. 

Rose's interest piqued. “Work or-?”

Nodding, Paige said, “I’ll tell you someplace more private.”

They grabbed their lunches the moment it was placed out on the window for pickup and walked over to an undercover area reserved just for those eating at the carts. The cold air made their noses feel numb, but they didn't have a lot of time to eat to drive back to someplace warm. 

“So what’s the news?” Rose asked, excitedly.

Glancing around to make sure no one could overhear (there was only one other group in the area and on the other side of the tables), Paige decided it was safe enough to talk. “I might have found a slight difference in our genes. The one we think triggers the Change.”

Rose waited, expectantly. Paige knew that hearing this would be important to her.

“It’s not a huge difference, and I haven’t been able to sample other genes between siblings to feel more confident about it, but if I’m right, you carry a gene with a slight alteration to it.”

Staring down at her box of Pad Thai, her sister remained silent for a moment. “So that’s why I'm different?”

“Possibly,” Paige answered with a shrug, though she felt confident that this was more of a probability. “I haven’t been able to look at the genes of other wolf siblings, so I can’t prove it yet.” She was already taking a risk as it was using her work equipment on a personal project. If anyone found the samples and realized they belonged to humans with an extra set of chromosomes that weren’t very human… The pack would throw a fit.

Paige had a theory, but that’s all it was. A theory with no hard evidence.

But now that she had found this one difference in genes, she felt like she had reached a breakthrough, not that she could tell anyone. She wasn’t sure if she could get samples from other wolf siblings in a situation like her and Rose either. It might forever be a theory, shared only between sisters.

She bit into her salad roll, staring at her sister as she poked at her lunch with her fork.

“Do you think Kylo will go after me?” Rose asked, quietly, startling Paige out of her thoughts.

As much as she wanted to relieve her sister of her fears, she knew she couldn’t be sure of anything and that thought frightened her. The feral wolves of today were more anti-human than some of the generations of the past, and largely, the wolves alive today had never experienced the true horrors that their ancestors had. Children like Rose were defective to them. She had seen the Reddit and 8chan forums, she knew how terrible they were.

“I don’t know,” she replied with honesty.

Wordlessly, Rose gulped her mouthful of food.

* * *

Lying on the couch, Rey stared ahead of her, not really seeing anything except a vague consciousness of the bumped pattern along the walls. Sometimes out of boredom she would stare at the ceiling and see if she could see shapes in the molding. There was a duck in the bedroom she and Finn shared, but when she looked at the wall, she couldn't think beyond what was running through her mind.

She was in an odd spot between deep thought and thinking nothing at all. One moment she was contemplating the last couple of days only to find moments later that she had forgotten what she was just thinking of. Her shoulder ached and she wasn't supposed to rely on the pain medication anymore. Even days at work when she was running on little sleep, she didn’t have this problem.

Han had left her his share of the auto shop, leaving it to be ran mainly by Chewie. In his will, he told her that he didn’t expect her to leave her job and that if she didn’t want to run the shop, he wouldn’t be disappointed. He didn’t think someone with an engineering degree would want to work at an old repair shop.

But Rey kind of wanted to. She had fond memories of the shop and knew how to do the repairs… it wouldn’t be a bad place to be and Han and Chewie had many loyal customers that returned over and over and brought other people in. Maybe she wouldn’t leave her job cold turkey just yet, but she would try working weekends to see the overall state of the shop before she decided anything. She didn’t think Chewie would mind.

At least this new development took her thoughts away from her cousin’s online activity. Now that she knew his Reddit username, she figured she might track him to other sites. The stuff he posted to those threads made her feel sick to her stomach. It was another side he hid from the rest of the family for years.

However, she was not sure what Finn would think about all of this. Their own trauma had caught up with them, leaving them exhausted. Finn wasn't sure if counseling would be an option again now that he was in school, but at least he could afford his medications to calm his general day-to-day anxiety. Any moment now, he would return from getting takeout at the taco place a few blocks away, and she would have to figure out what to tell him. She wasn’t sure why she was uncomfortable telling him that her uncle left her a share of his business, but she was nonetheless.

The warm smell of meat and spices filled her nostrils and signaled Finn’s return. She stood up, eagerly awaiting the food and momentarily forgot her earlier thoughts.

“I’m starving and I could just kiss you,” she told him. 

He laughed. “I'll take it as payment for being forced to walk out in the cold.”

She leaned in to press her lips to his. “It smells good. I was almost about to go hunt myself.”

“Is this the wolf in you speaking?” Finn teased.

Rolling her eyes, she helped him unpack the box of food and get a pair of plates from the cupboard. As she could tell by the smell, the tacos were delicious and almost made her mouth water by taste alone.

“How was the reading?” 

“Han left me his shares of the shop,” she blurted out. Her eyes started to water.

Finn paused to look at her. “Woah, that was more than you were expecting.”

“Yeah.”

He observed her reaction. “And this is… okay with you?” Reaching out, he touched her face gently, thumbing at the wet streak running down her cheek. There were days she felt like she had cried herself out, but then there was always something that could make her tears flow again.

Rey shrugged. “I guess so,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind running the place, but I’m going to give it some time to think it over. Leia said I shouldn’t rush to make a decision.”

The pair went quiet for a moment. 

“I asked Poe about a couple of wolf things,” Finn finally brought up. She was thankful he wanted to change the subject.

It was her turn for curious stares. “What kinds of things?”

“About mates.”

She shifted a little in her seat at the couch, but then she realized that Finn was not mirroring this discomfort. It had not been something she had brought up after the morning of the attack, but she knew Finn had a good memory and could tell when something was of significance.

“And… how do you feel about that?” Her voice faltered.

Slowly, he covered her hand with his. “I think it’s wonderful.”

Then, he leaned over and kissed her.

Smiling into it, Rey told herself that she would never allow Kylo to take this away from her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Paige's story in this is what made me feel like this story needed a lot of editing. I know a thing or two about genetics, but normally you have to keep things simple for them to make sense, especially when it comes to fantastical science like here.


	3. Chapter 3

The pack called a meeting two weeks after Han’s funeral. Now on high alert, there was worry that the actions of a few badly behaved wolves would threaten their own existance. There was some talk of splitting up and moving to safer areas, but the Skywalker siblings wanted to wait before making a choice. Kylo hadn’t killed anyone that didn’t have a connection to the pack yet, and they were able to cover Han’s death as a heart attack.

Luke had asked Rey to come alone, afraid that Finn’s presence would make things more tense. Fearing that not including him would put him out even more than he already was, Rey decided not to tell him that as her mate, he would normally be invited to these meetings. If he asked later, she would just say that this had been private pack business and leave it at that. She hated lying to him, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings or make him suspicious that he was in more danger than she let on. He wasn’t, but she knew he would still wonder.

“Settle down,” Leia ordered when the meeting was called.

Curled up against a couch in the corner, Rey watched alone, wanting to distance herself from everyone else to avoid questions and obvious stares. Sometimes, she’d glance at Poe or Rose across the room, hoping to catch their eye and guess what they were thinking.

The chattering didn’t die down though.

Visibly annoyed, Leia growled, “Quiet!”

The room went immediately silent.

Looking pleased, she began, “We have a problem with some of our young people leaving, going feral.”

“Yeah, _your_ spawn,” spat one of the newcomers in the group that Rey was unfamiliar with. She couldn’t recall a name, and could only remember that he had three children of his own.

Her aunt recoiled at the comment, but kept her composure. “I don’t know why Ben did what he did,” she confessed. “I know just as little as everyone else.”

Rey bit her lower lip as she curled up further. The deeper she got into her cousin’s anonymous online accounts, the more she saw into the darkest corners of his mind. She didn’t understand it herself, the extreme hate for humans, but it existed and it wasn’t a small matter that would go away. In the last few years, the movement for wolves to go feral expanded, and she had linked a couple of other accounts to friends of her cousin. She wasn’t sure how foreigners like Armitage Hux and Phasma (no one knew her real name) settled in the United States when there were feral packs in their home country, but that didn’t matter either. They were here, and both were dangerous in their own way.

Her father stood up. “Much of the blame is to be put on me,” he said, hoarsely. “When Ben challenged me that night, he was not strong enough to defeat me, but I was also not strong enough to put a stop to him.”

“Then perhaps you too weak to be our leader,” growled Rose’s father, which shocked Rey. Since they arrived and join the pack years ago, he had always been supportive of Luke.

“Perhaps,” Luke replied quietly, "it might be time to let younger blood lead the pack.”

She felt eyes shift to her and moved uncomfortably. Rey knew a few of the pack would expect her to take up the challenge and become the next leader. She was strong enough, but she wasn’t sure if she was smart enough. Her father had his sister to help him make choices; who did she have?

 _Finn,_ she thought. But even she knew that Finn wouldn’t be able to help her with the affairs of the pack. He didn’t know most of the rituals and rules as it was. Once, she would have expected her cousin to fill the role of leadership and seek her help when needed, or even the opposite had she been the victor. Not only did he betray his family, but he also let her down.

“Are you suggesting we do a trial?” Poe spoke out. He seemed interested in the idea, and looking around, Rey could not think of a better replacement for her father. Poe might not be as strong as some of the other males in the group, but he was crafty and got himself out of tight spots before. Finn told her of stories back in the army when he encountered the air force captain and knew just what to do to help get a group of trapped soldiers out of enemy lines by making distractions. Poe had the skills to move up to be a commander, but he ultimately decided that it was time for him to finish up his career there. Rey was just glad they both came home alive.

If Poe rose to the challenge and made it out of the trial victorious, Rey would support him. She would gladly fight in her father’s place for family honor, but as she was with her shoulder, she would have to stand down. If whoever was the victor was someone she did not support, she could always challenge them later.

She glanced around the room to size up the potential pack leaders in the room. Most of the pack was either too old or too young, but there was formidable potential in their group. At least three-fourths of the mates in this group were human too. However, not all the wolves seemed like they had both brains and brawn on their side, which was an important quality to have.

There were only six real contenders in the room: Vi Moradi, Jarek Yeager, Amilyn Holdo, Poe Dameron, Freya Fenris, and Hype Fazon. Doing a quick observation, she wasn’t sure if Moradi or Yeager would be interested in going through the trial, and Rey wouldn’t put her support behind Hype because he was more interested in glory than keeping the pack together and stable. 

Poe would be her first choice, followed by Fenris and Holdo. Freya Fenris was strong physically, but she might not decide what was best for the pack and Holdo was Leia’s best friend but she also might not be strong enough on her own.

If Kylo were here, he would wipe the floor with all of them.

Her father spoke up again, after a moment of thought. “If I have challengers, I will be glad to call a trial.” Luke then paused. “But,” he added, “I would like to wait for a month or two while we try to sort out the feral pack.”

That was when the shouting began.

The younger, more eager pack members were the loudest. Angry and feeling betrayed, they had not yet learned that an older pack leader might be weak physically, but still had years of wisdom and experience to pass down. If it was another person, Rey might have felt the same way, but this was her father and his reaction to his nephew’s turn had surprised her. She thought he would leave the pack like he did when her mother died, ignoring her and everyone else around him while the family picked up the pieces. This time, Luke wanted to face things head-on.

She never quite forgave her father for abandoning her in a time of great distress, but at least he was trying to make amends both with her and the pack.

“Quiet!” Leia howled.

If there was one person in the pack that no one wanted to anger, it was Leia Organa. Everyone settled down, though there were still a few frustrated murmurs audible.

She stood up. “We have concerns that selecting a new leader in a time like this might create further complications.” Which, was true. Who was to say that a new leader wouldn’t further divide the pack? “Luke and I are in agreement that it would be better to deal with this problem first. After that, he and I will step down without a fuss.”

This seemed to appease many of the younger pack members for now.

Her honored not-uncle stood up. Getting on in years, he walked with a cane, but nothing stopped Lando Calrissian from being his charming self.

“So, is it plan time?” he asked, grinning.

Leia rolled her eyes. “Lando, it’s not going to be like when we were all young and strong,” she said.

He shrugged. “Maybe not for us, but we’ve got a few young people in this group that will gladly take up the fight.”

Shifting uncomfortably in his place, Luke looked solemn. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” he whispered, but everyone in the room listening carefully would be able to hear him. He looked at Rey’s shoulder pointedly.

Something within her compelled her to stand up. “But if we don’t fight,” she countered, “more of us _will_ get hurt.”

“Rey,” Luke growled, “not now.”

“Dad, I might know where he is.”

The room fell silent. All eyes were on her now.

Her aunt glared at her. “What are you talking about?”

Hesitation filled her. She looked around and realized that in the back of the room, she couldn’t ignore the faces craning their necks to look at her. If she didn’t answer now, there would be a lot of pestering questions later.

“I found Kylo’s social media accounts; the ones he uses to contact his feral friends. They’re hiding out in the south, where all the forests are. Probably near the border of Cali.”

Leia’s eyes slanted into a glare. “What friends?” she demanded.

“Armitage Hux and Phasma, specifically,” Rey answered.

A couple of people turned to whisper to whoever was closest to him, not refusing to help themselves to gossip. Not much was known about Phasma except that the silver wolf’s survival instinct borderlined insanity. There wasn’t much she wouldn’t do to stay alive and few would challenge her in either human or wolf skin. Rey had heard rumors she was born to a feral pack up in Canada and that after they were hunted by humans – to be fair, they murdered a few hikers and farmers - she traveled down to America to find a new home. 

Armitage Hux, on the other hand, was a bigger worry than a renegade feral lone wolf.

His father had led a feral pack over in Britain decades ago, taking over for Brendol Hux when the old man finally met a violent end. Whispers were that Armitage murdered his own father and used his wits to halt any other threats to his leadership, but it didn’t matter much in the end. The pack split and some went back to hiding as humans again; it wasn’t like there were wild wolves in Britain anymore and that made it too hard to hide and blend in. 

So Hux ended up trying again in America. Rey had only met him once when her cousin brought him over to introduce him, and she didn’t like him one bit. This was two years before she had met Finn, but she had dated other humans and the things Hux said to her about interbreeding made her uneasy. She wasn’t sure if Kylo had liked him either, but they got along well enough and Rey kept her nose out of his business.

Maybe she should have made it her business, but she also wasn’t sure if that would have changed anything.

“There are others in the group,” she ended, “but I don’t know their real names.”

“How many?” asked Luke.

She shrugged. “At least nine." She admitted, “I’m not positive, but I know the pack is growing. This is just my estimations from surveying his accounts.”

There were more mummers among the pack and Rey took her seat again. She didn’t have any more information to give them.

“Thank you, Rey,” Leia announced. “You’ve done enough now.”

She knew that was a warning to not get more involved. Not that her family didn’t appreciate the insight, but it was more that they didn’t want her to get roped into more trouble. Kylo likely wasn’t smart enough to figure out she was anonymously tracking him, but if he did… well, she didn’t want to put Finn in danger again.

Her mate was her first priority, she reminded herself. No matter what the pack or Kylo did, Rey would always put Finn first.

The rest of the pack spent the evening discussing what to do. In the end, it was decided that it would be best to send someone to get as close to the feral pack’s territory as possible, using scent markers to figure out the perimeter of the area without entering it.

That wouldn’t work for long before the pack sensed the outsider, but everyone knew that. What was important was that they at least confirmed an established territory and figured out what to do from there.

Vi Moradi volunteered for the job. Out of all the wolves in the group, she was best suited for spying. Her old pack had been distrustful of outsiders and before she decided to leave, she would infiltrate nearby packs and bring her own back information about them. The problem was that with her kind of work, wolves caught on to what she was up to quickly. Vi quit that work and find a new home with a pack that would take her. Luke and Leia heard her out and decided that this time, she wasn’t lying.

And now here she was, helping her new family in their hour of need.

Rey wondered how all of this would play out.

* * *

Silent, swift footsteps brought him near his prey. Quiet as a summer breeze, quick as death.

The wolf instincts took over and since he had abandoned the humans for this life, Kylo found that he had never been happier. Here, in this forest, he was free to run and hunt as he pleased. No one told him to control himself or remind him that his real form was human. Now that he was here, he was doubted that was true. There was a lot he doubted about his old life.

In front of him, the doe nibbled peacefully on the foliage, unaware of the danger looming behind her. 

He prepared himself for the kill, lowering to the ground to ready for a running start. The moment he began was the moment he couldn’t turn back or make corrections to his route. She would hear him before she saw him and run away. Kylo was fast, but he knew the deer could be faster when her life was on the line.

“The Supreme Leader is looking for you,” a cool voice came behind him.

The sudden snap of a nearby branch on the ground startled him, and Kylo turned to see the deer had already vanished.

Kylo turned to who interrupted his hunt, barring his teeth at the slender red wolf. “Dammit, Hux. That was mine!”

Despite the threat, Hux paid Kylo no mind. “Phasma will catch her,” he assured her and just as he said this, they heard a snarl in the distance. “Well, look, now you’re free to speak to the Supreme Leader.”

Growling, Kylo swiped a massive paw near the other wolf to show his annoyance before he wandered through the woods. It didn’t take him long to get to the small, clear lake hidden by dense trees. Few humans knew about this place and few would venture this far out.

And few wolves came here knowing who claimed this spot for himself.

He crept towards the water’s edge, lapping up its contents to quench his own thirst. In the lake's reflection, he could see himself clearly, matted black fur and the deep scar running down his face.

Rey did that to him. His own family betrayed him. Once, Kylo believed that his cousin might have been sympathetic to the feral pack’s plight, but her involvement with that human had obviously swayed her. She was smart, but love made her stupid. There were plenty of males in this pack from her to choose from.

She made it known where her loyalties lay the moment she lunged for him when he asked her to leave the pack and the human. Kylo had hoped she would have agreed and come quietly, instead they tried to kill each other. Rey had smelled strongly of that human and when Kylo realized that she wasn’t alone in that cabin, his anger boiled further and he vowed to kill the man inside. Vengeance, perhaps, but more of a desire to protect what was his. He almost succeeded, but he underestimated the strength of the human, forgetting he had once been a soldier, and the man got away only for Rey to return to the fight.

That was when she bit his face and ran back to her human. Staggering, Kylo made it to the woods and waited there until Hux and Phasma found him. Back in their human forms, they took him to a vet that knew how to care for werewolves and they got him stitched up. The scar ached, and he had to be careful until it fully healed, but Kylo knew that this encounter would only serve to strengthen him.

“Good, you're here,” a rasping voice interrupted his thoughts.

Kylo turned around to see the ancient face of the Supreme Leader. Face scarred and reconstructed, Snoke might have easily been mistaken for an ugly, feral mutt than a wolf and Kylo had underestimated this too. It was hard to believe that a wolf as old and physically weak as this one was one of the most brilliant minds around.

“You wanted to see me?” Kylo wasn’t one for small talk but neither was Snoke.

The old wolf lay down in the shade of a tree. Kylo had no idea how old he was, but it had to be unusually old for a lone feral wolf. Arthritic and easily tired, Snoke couldn’t hunt or run far.

Finally, he answered. “You rose to the biggest challenge of your life and met it,” he began. “Now, I have another test for you.”

Wanting to huff in annoyance, Kylo opted to listen. Snoke was wise, but his tests were becoming a nuisance. Was killing his father not enough? For most, that would be the ultimate proof of unwavering allegiance.

Even he had struggled to kill Han. It would have been easy if he had hated his father, and though he was disgusted by his human heritage, Kylo never felt that and looked back on his childhood fondly. Han had been nothing but a good father to him.

His resolved wavered when he barred his teeth at his father and Han did nothing to stop him besides offering help.

Kylo’s victory over his own conscious had pleased Snoke and cemented his ties to this pack. It was where he belonged.

“Tell me, young Kylo,” Snoke crooned, “what do you sense around us?”

He closed his eyes, concentrating as he named the things familiar to him. “The trees, the lake… you… me…the pack’s scent markers…”

Snoke grew impatient. “Concentrate,” he ordered. “There is something else here.”

Trying again, Kylo closed his eyes and listened, smelled. Largely, it was all the same awareness as before, but then he finally heard something else.

Footsteps. So far away that from this distance it was almost impossible to hear them. The rhythmic _thump, thump_ came in patterns that only a creature on two legs would make.

“A human is here,” Kylo announced.

Snoke nodded his head. “Good. And you know what to do to humans that stray into our lands.”

Growling, Kylo faced the direction of the intruder. He could smell the human now and his lips curled at the thought of a human intruding on this sacred place. They came here to get away from humans, and here they were, walking on land they arrogantly believed belonged to them like they did everything else.

This would be a far better hunt than the doe.


	4. Chapter 4

They lived for rainy weekend afternoons.

Finn tried not to jostle her shoulder too much, but now that Rey could wear a brace instead of a sling, it became a lot easier to forget that she still felt sore. The bite marks on his shoulder had healed, though he could still see the faint outline etched into his skin.

She kept touching the mark once the skin had healed over, he noticed. Whenever his shoulder was bare to her, she would reach out and gently touch the area. Rey’s eyes, normally bright and inquisitive, would darken into something soft and regretting. He hoped she didn’t regret their time together because it had given him so much joy in his life.

This is what she was doing now. Leaning against his side, her fingers ghosted his shoulder. It almost tickled, but Finn wasn’t very ticklish, which sometimes seemed to disappoint her. Their play fighting often served to be just that - _playing_ \- and she acted similar to her playful side as a wolf too.

Outside, the rain pattered against the bedroom window. Finn had been no stranger to rain when he moved here, but at first, the consistent gray skies throughout winter and spring made him feel just as bland on the inside. It took him a couple of months to appreciate the weather, when he realized that the rain and mild climate brought with it lush plants and vibrant flowers when life was renewed with the seasons. Rey’s recollection of her childhood made him realize that the region wasn’t getting as much rain each year as it used to, resulting in fears of drought each summer and little snow on the mountaintops some years stopped winter tourism. He realized that the weather now might be a happier median than what they could get.

The sound of the rain was relaxing. The room was quiet except for the raindrops outside and Rey’s light breaths against his skin. They had talked about finding something to stream, but so far, neither had attempted to switch on the television, content as they were.

Rey put her face up against his neck. She inhaled deeply and breathed out a sigh. This was something she did often, but he hadn’t really realized this until recently. When she was in her wolf form, she would put her snout in the same spot.

“What’s with you and my neck?” he teased.

He felt her smile against him before she lightly nipped at him. 

“Hey!” he laughed, turning over in the bed so they faced each other on their sides.

Smiling, she pecked him on the lips. “You smell good,” she answered.

“That a wolf thing?” he teased her.

She paused, looking pleasantly pensive. “It’s a wolf _and_ a human thing. Humans can smell an individual’s scent too, you know. Especially their spouse’s or child’s.”

Finn had never thought about it before, but he noticed Rey had her own specific scent. He never thought of anyone else’s unless it was particularly noticeable and not very pleasant. There was no particular word he could think of to explain her scent except that it was her own and it was Rey. Wolves, obviously, would be able to distinguish scents better; pick them apart into individual notes. Rey certainly could when they cooked at home.

“Bet it's amazing to have a sense of smell like a wolf,” he whispered.

Rey wrinkled her nose. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” she countered. “Remember, everything smells twice as strong, at least.”

“So you’re saying,” Finn teased, “that garbage doesn’t smell good as a wolf either?”

Playfully, she shoved his side. “Thanks.”

“Well, I really wish I had a better-than-human sniffer,” he said again.

She sat up and shook her hair out. “You know, sometimes couples like to do this thing where the human selects a perfume for the wolf to wear. Like a signature scent.”

He perked up. “Sounds like fun,” Finn said. “Maybe we could stop by the mall today…” He was trying to think of things to do so that they didn't spend the entire weekend inside their apartment.

Poking him gently on the nose, Rey laughed. “It’s supposed to be a surprise, you know.”

“Ah…” he hummed. “Really?”

“Really,” she replied. “So..." she leaned over to kiss him, "surprise me.”

Finn wondered what kind of scent he would select for her. There really wasn’t one way to describe Rey. Perhaps the best thing to do to choose one would be to simply find a perfume he liked the most. The mall was only a few blocks over from the university, he could squeeze time in to stop at one of the stores.

He was feeling excited about this now. Maybe he could check online first.

“What should we do this morning?” he asked, grinning.

Rey grinned. “Not get up, to start,” she laughed.

* * *

Weekends passed too quickly in his opinion, and he quickly found himself back on campus the following Monday morning. Winters always felt gray and dead to him, but maybe it was because the trees were bare and the sky was gloomy. 

His bus let him off a couple of blocks away from the center of campus, which he preferred, because normally this stop had a small waiting line and he was more likely to get a seat. The next stop was so crowded that most people that got on had to stand in the aisle. It wasn’t uncommon for a bus to skip stops because it was full. Besides, this block had a couple nice cafes and delis to sit at if he had to wait.

Today, he found himself walking into a student protest.

This wasn’t an unusual thing. Most days, there was _something_ going on in the park blocks around the school. The students here were pretty active politically. Just a few years ago, many of them occupied park spaces to protest Wall Street, though the movement fell apart over a few months. It damaged a lot of public spaces and property and Finn wasn’t sure if that was the best way to protest. He was rather quiet with his own political opinions, but he knew when to take a stand when needed. If someone needed him to show up, he would.

In order to get into the student union building, Finn would have to brave the crowd and squeeze through. He caught glimpses of the few signs in the group, but the name of the person being protested wasn’t familiar to him.

Except, one face in the crowd _was_ familiar.

Finn tried to place a name to a face, but found he had forgotten. He knew he met her at Han’s funeral; one of Rey’s packmates.

“Oh, hey!” he greeted.

“Hey.” She smiled.

He grinned back, embarrassed. “I know we’ve met, but I can’t remember your name,” he admitted.

“Rose,” she told him. “And you’re Finn. _The_ Finn.”

_“The_ Finn?”

This time, she looked sheepish. “You’re the talk of the pack.”

He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Not sure what to think of when learning that people were talking about him behind his back, he changed the subject. “What is everyone protesting?”

Her face flipped into a frown. “The University President is resigning and taking a two-hundred-thousand dollar severance pay with him. Meanwhile, the board is talking about raising tuition again.”

Finn frowned. He didn’t like hearing of another tuition hike when it was already costly, and he recalled that just a couple of years ago, the university administrators got in trouble for pocketing more money under the excuse of bonuses when the teachers in the university were seeing severe pay cuts. This new university president had only been in office for a few months too and if he remembered correctly, the school’s student newspaper had written an exciting article about a former engineering professor taking on the job hoping the STEM fields would benefit. 

“Ugh, that’s nasty,” he replied, before something jotted his memory. “Don’t you work with Rey?”

“Yeah, part-time,” said Rose. “I’m getting my master’s. What are you studying?”

“Pre-law.”

“Oh, that’s cool!”

He thought it would be nice to see Rose more on campus. It would be good to get to know some of Rey’s friends and her pack and she seemed like a sweet person, if maybe a little excitable. 

But he glanced at his phone and realized the time. “Crap, I’m gonna be late if I don’t hurry up.”

She moved out of the way. “See you later, maybe!”

Pacing through the hallways and up a flight of stairs, Finn made it to his classroom with one minute to spare. He hoped he would run into Rose on campus again.

* * *

Rey bit her straw nervously, glad that the thick plastic prevented her from breaking it. She sipped tiny amounts of her milk tea at a time while she stared almost blankly at her phone.

Her father had never been one to bother her with texts while she was at work, knowing she probably wouldn’t see it until a lot later, but sometimes he emailed her. Personal emails were fine at her job as long as it didn’t distract her too much. Lately, what really distracted her was her thoughts jumping back and forth between her tasks, Han’s shop, and the pack.

But this was probably just going to ruin her day.

She stared at the news article her father linked her to. _Hiker Found Dead – Animal May Be to Blame._

The local investigation of this hiker’s death was thought to be from a cougar. It wasn’t unheard of for humans to get attacked out on trails by the big cat - it happened just a year before, sadly – but as she glanced at the article, she understood her father’s fears from what he said in the email.

The attack happened in the area Kylo’s pack was thought to be. 

Her father explained that he called back Vi Moradi from her search. If a human was killed by a feral wolf, it wouldn’t be safe for her to walk around in any form. Anyone that lived in the area would likely be on high alert and might try to kill her on accident, or the feral pack might sense her and pursue her. No one else needed to be put in danger.

Rey’s stomach churned as she read the article. Random attacks by feral wolves was never a good thing. They didn’t just threaten the existence of the feral pack, but any werewolves that lived nearby. The southern forests were over six hours away, but her home could easily feel the effects if anyone was accidently spotted in their wolf skin. More and more wild animals were wandering into urban neighborhoods and getting killed for it. Rey didn’t like how humans usually treated wildlife, finding that killing them when they were obviously just looking for food after humans took over their territory distasteful. She could understand that contempt for humans.

But werewolves had laws, and those laws were clear: a werewolf that attacked humans was a threat to the pack. The sentence for murdering humans as a wolf was death.

She failed to kill her cousin when she had the chance, and though she was not sure if this was his doing, Kylo killed his human father. Part of her felt responsible for this continuing. Leaning back in her chair, she sighed as she thought about what should be done and only thought of one thing.

If you want something to be done right, you had to do it yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys! I meant to publish this last week, but I got a bad cold and fell behind on schedule!


	5. Chapter 5

Healing felt like it took too long. Three months minimum was a long time and Rey’s doctors were certain that her injury would take longer. The werewolf genes weren’t hurrying that process up. All that it was doing was helping her heal by preventing herself from Changing at each full moon. The body could be remarkable in how it helped itself heal, but sometimes it felt like time just didn’t move fast enough.

There hadn’t been another attack on a human since the hiker was found. Leia and Luke speculated that when a group of humans searched the area for predators, the feral pack went into hiding. They would lie low for a bit. Even they weren’t stupid enough to keep at killing humans that wandered into their territory; their pack was too small to be a threat to a group of hunters with guns.

Despite that, the inaction of her pack made Rey restless. She did not doubt her aunt and father’s leadership, but she wondered if Kylo’s involvement swayed them from getting involved. No one wanted to fight their family, let alone a son or a nephew. Rey was broken-hearted over Han’s death and Ben’s betrayal, but that sadness flipped to rage the moment Kylo turned on her and went after Finn. She had been considering the possibility of calling Finn her mate for months before the attack, but in that forest, fangs barred at her cousin, she couldn’t think of him as anything but.

But she worried if nothing was done, the feral pack would just get bigger and more powerful. They might be small now, but no one could say that it would remain that way. More and more young wolves were getting sucked into the idea of a feral pack and, as anger and frustration with the world grew, more might find the idea appealing. If the pack and the ideal weren’t snuffed out soon, it could lead to more trouble.

Rey didn’t like to think of a world where she and her family could be in danger, even if they weren’t the ones doing wrong. They just wanted to live their lives as normally as possible, living like humans and alongside humans without threat of being hunted down like in the past. Surely anyone that meant no harm deserved that?

She wasn’t the only one that grew uneasy with how the pack was taking care of things. Some of the young adults were discussing moving away to join other packs or create their own in a more affordable city. As much as the idea appealed to Rey, she considered here her home and with Finn’s schooling, she was not sure if he would be willing to move. Their work allowed them to scrape together rent each month for a nice studio, but that apartment certainly wasn’t a forever home for two people thinking about spending the rest of their lives together. She’d be willing to wait until he graduated, but at the same time, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to leave either.

Poe’s instant messages with her back and forth told her he was thinking the same thing. He grew up in Florida and didn’t think he’d like the Pacific Northwest, only to find that it’s greenery and charm kept him there. He thought it would be a nice place to live a life.

Though she wanted to bring up the possibility of him leading the pack after everything settled down, Rey hadn’t found the courage to talk to him. Poe never said he wanted to before, but she knew someone who wanted to lead when she saw one, and he wouldn’t be a bad leader. He might be small on the physical side and maybe not as strong as Ben would have been, but Poe had a sense of justice that Ben did not and he cared about the pack. Never one to back down, he wouldn’t allow another feral pack to become a problem.

And Poe and Finn got along well, something that made Rey happy to see. Finn even ran into Rose a couple of times at school, getting coffee with her between classes. She liked to see her mate bond with her pack and was happy he was making friends. Finn had become a lot more reclusive than when she first met him and Rey worried that was because they were a tight-knit couple. As quiet and independent as she was, Rey still saw her friends whenever she could, but she wasn’t sure if she should worry about Finn or not. He could decide for himself when he wanted to see people and he and Poe were close. Sometimes people only had one or two close friends and that was enough for them.

She looked over at the kitchen table from her seat on the couch. Finn hunched over one of his law books, carefully scanning its contents. Every once in a while, he would reach for his pen and write something down in his notebook. He studied too long, Rey thought, but she knew he always worked far harder than he needed to.

Sometimes, she would tease him, distract him, all to get him to take a break, but today she was content to just watch him as he worked. There was something hypnotic about watching him move his pen back and forth against the paper, and Rey was tired from her day at work.

Stretching out on the couch, Rey found herself lulled into sleep for a nap. In her mind as she lost awareness of reality, she dreamed of running through the forest with another wolf at her side who had fur a darker brown than her own.

* * *

Finally emerging from his studies, Finn looked around the main area of the apartment, only to find Rey napping on the couch. He smiled and decided not to bother her. As her shoulder was healing up, between work and the stress that he knew she was feeling from the… problems in the pack, she came home exhausted every day. Neither of them slept well these days either, though Finn at least had medication to help him out.

He went into the bathroom to clean up, removing his shirt to look at the scarring bite mark on his shoulder. Frowning, he looked at how the healing wound looked like it was scarring by how the light, raised skin etched the area. Each time he looked at it, he was reminded of the wolf that bit him and how he saw the intent of murder in his eyes.

Rey’s presence reminded him that he was lucky to have someone so devoted to him in his life, but he also understood that if he hadn’t been involved with her, Kylo wouldn’t have even known he existed.

At night, Finn always made sure that the doors were locked, and the windows shut tight. He didn’t really believe a werewolf could scale an apartment building, but it gave him peace of mind when he tried to settle in for bed. Rey also seemed to do her own ritual for bed, pacing the front room a few times and looking outside before deciding she could sleep.

He ran his hand through his locs and placed a few stray strands the way he liked before he went back to the main room. Now that he was finished with his studies, he reached for his laptop that he bought cheap and on sale. As long as it got the job done, that’s all he needed. Finn clicked on his browser’s icon and stared at his homepage as it loaded the latest local news.

Another update on that hiker found dead down in the southern region. Finn frowned as he clicked on the link that took him to the article.

Glancing at Rey to make sure she was still asleep, Finn ventured into the article’s words. A year ago, he wouldn’t have thought much about the hiker’s fate except that the poor guy was unfortunate to get in the way of a mountain lion, but now he knew better. It didn’t help that he spotted Rey and Rose glancing at the story when they thought they were being sneaky. 

And the image of the safe at the cabin never left his thoughts. Between moments of fear and remembrance, those silver bullets stayed tucked away, only to emerge again when he thought of how Rey warned him that some wolves didn’t like humans and tried to reassure him all the same. He had no reason to believe that Rey didn’t think he was safe, but he wondered if he should have thought dating a werewolf through a little more. They had been together long before Rey revealed that bit of information to him, but it changed everything.

Maybe he should have thought harder about what it meant to be with someone that wasn’t quite human.

He loved Rey, truly. The moment she came into his life, Finn’s world seemed brighter and vibrant. She showed him everything she loved about the city she grew up in; things Finn wouldn’t have probably discovered on his own. But now it felt like she lived a double-life before she told him her secret and if he had known from the start, he might not have wanted to stick around…

What Poe told him somewhat frightened him. Wolves mate for life, and even if there were no hard feelings between them if Finn wanted to leave, what would that mean for Rey? Would she be so attached to him that leaving her meant she could die of heartbreak? Or was it so early in their relationship that she could go on without him? It almost felt like being a werewolf’s mate brought the additional stress of hurting someone else if it didn’t work out. Were there couples like them where one was human that felt obligated to stay with someone just to avoid the guilt?

Not that he was really thinking about ending things, but their current situation was… complicated…

Maybe it was time for him to make a final decision.

* * *

Poe sat down next to the three women at the table. Running late as usual, he apologized again as he sat his coffee down.

Clutching her own cup, Rey smiled. “Poe, when have you ever been early?” she teased.

“Or even on time?” Paige joked back as her sister grinned.

Laughing, Poe tried to wave them off. “OK, OK, I get it.” Then he turned serious. “What’s this about Rey?”

Earlier in the week, she had called everyone up and wanted to talk to them about something important, without hinting to what it could be. All she said was that she wanted to keep this between them and that she wasn’t including Finn. That told them she was wanting to discuss werewolf issues involved.

For a moment, she looked a little upset. Perhaps it was more personal than they were led to believe. Rey gripped her cup again and took a light sip from it.

“I think I’m going to go after the feral pack when I can Change again,” she finally blurted out. There was no explanation, and Rey didn’t even look anyone in the eye to see their shocked reactions.

Rose was the first to speak up. “Are you still on those pain meds, Rey?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not high.”

“Too bad,” retorted Rose, “because that would at least be an excuse!”

“Guys,” Poe butted in. “There’s a reason for this, right?” He looked at Rey pointedly.

All eyes were on her again. It wasn’t clear if she had thought on this for long, but Poe knew Rey well enough that there were always a few things in the corners of her mind as she went about the day. Sometimes, he would learn that she had plans for herself years before they came into fruition. If she was considering this, then likely Rey had some kind of plan already.

From the look of it, Paige thought this too. “This… isn’t a revenge thing, right?” she asked warily.

That would have been Poe’s first choice in deciphering her intent. There was no one else besides Leia that was more grief stricken by Han’s death. Also, not only did Ben kill his father, but also went after Rey’s mate. Nothing could have been worse for her besides loosing Finn that night. To a wolf, an attack on a mate often brought out the more territorial aspects in them. If anyone had more reason to go after Kylo, it was Rey.

“I want to protect my pack,” she confessed. “And as much as I love my father and my aunt, I’m worried that their attachment to Ben is preventing them from doing anything.”

“And _you_ aren’t attached?” Rose was skeptical like everyone else at the table.

Rey paused for a moment, thinking this over. “Ben turned into someone I do not know and the Ben I believed I knew wouldn’t have killed his father or attacked Finn.”

“They are not two different people,” spat Rose.

“But they are. Until now, my cousin led a double-life. He ran with us in the forests like family while the entire time he hated our mates and loved-ones.” Rey probably didn’t mean to stare at Rose while she said this, but she did, putting an emphasis on the matter. “Now that I know what he had been up to the whole time, I admit I didn’t know Ben and now I know the only person we’ve ever embraced as family had been the one that now calls himself Kylo.”

It would have sounded crazy or full of denial if it weren’t for the fact that Poe was thinking the same way. 

“Do you have an idea Rey, of how to deal with this? ‘Cause I’m all ears,” he said. “I don’t wanna think about what could happen to our pack if those feral wolves cause us more trouble.” 

No one did, and that was the problem. Some of the pack thought if they ignored the feral wolves, the problem would just go away. In Rey’s experience, nothing just went away.

“I might,” she admitted. “It’s not the best idea, but it’s an idea.”

They waited for her to give them more details.

Rey looked between them seriously. “You have to promise me you won’t tell Finn,” she sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get out! Two colds in three weeks slowed me down on editing this, plus I had to get out other stories I already had scheduled.


	6. Chapter 6

She knew she would Change again when she started to feel the prickling in her spine. The feeling made her agitated, like she was in one place when she needed to be somewhere else and couldn’t figure out exactly where. It had been a month after her shoulder healed up and the first signs of spring had started with her allergies and the first blooms of daffodils and tulips in the gardens on her usual daily walk around her job. Rey had gone so long without Changing that she almost forgot what it was like to feel her bones shift into a new shape.

After debating what she wanted to do for the night of the full moon, she told Finn her father would let her stay at his house while he went off to do pack things for the night. She didn’t feel like going back to the cabins yet and her father’s home had distance from the neighbors that no one thought it would be a problem. She would just stay inside for the night.

Finn went with her this time too, knowing he would likely be safe in a neighborhood instead of out in the middle of a forest. He also wanted to keep his eye on Rey in case the Change went bad again. She assured him that she wouldn’t be able to make the transformation if she wasn’t healed up, but the memory of her shoulder dislocating the last time was too fresh.

On the night of the full moon, they spent their evening getting comfortable and preparing for the worst. Finn kept an emergency kit nearby this time.

Rey decided to try to induce the Change earlier than sundown, already rolling her shoulders and neck out of discomfort. She hoped that the gradual transformation would be easier on her body.

Nervously, Finn watched as the first part of the transition washed over her. It wasn’t the worst part, but it was uncomfortable, and she always paced whatever room she was in during this part. Her muscles ached as they twitched and her hormones sent messages to her brain to prepare for her bones to restructure. It sparked her nerves alight with sudden shocks of pain, but it created more of a cramping sensation than anything else.

No, the worst part was when the actual shift happened, when her bones and muscles ripped and moved and stitched itself back together. A gradual change made this a little more tolerable, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t painful. 

She didn’t like Finn to see this part of the Change; that’s why she always opted to go into another room and lock the door. He saw it the night Ben attacked them and heard the sickening pop of her shoulder leaving its socket. It hadn’t been a pleasant experience for either of them. Tonight would be no different.

Dragging herself upstairs, she pulled herself into her childhood bedroom before shutting the door behind her. Finn did not follow her, so she assumed he understood her need to be alone. 

Her father had left her room largely intact to look how it did when she was growing up. Her sketches of cars, aircraft, and robots still decorated the walls and her stuffed animals still sat on her bed. If she walked in here with Finn, she might have been embarrassed, but halfway transformed into her wolf skin, she found the environment to give her a sense of nostalgia.

On the floor at the foot of her bed, she allowed herself to go through the final motions of the Change, moaning one last time before the pain ebbed from her spine.

She must have dozed off for a moment, because she didn’t hear Finn come up the stairs until he was lightly knocking at the door. “Rey?” he whispered.

Barking quietly (she didn’t want to disturb any neighbors that were around), she let him know she was OK and that it was safe for him to enter. 

He turned the knob to her room and peered inside. “You doing OK?” he asked her.

Rey allowed him to draw near. Sitting down beside her, Finn stroked his hand gently through her fur. “No pain in your shoulder?”

Well, there was still the echo of the transformation firing through her nerves, but nothing she would call painful at this rate. It would take her a few more minutes to feel normal again, then she could move around more.

It probably looked odd for a hybrid-wolf to shake its head, but that was the best way she could communicate with him when her jaws no longer were capable of moving in a way for her to speak.

Still, the Change exhausted her, and she moved closer to her mate, resting her head on his thigh as she waited for her strength to return to her.

* * *

Leaning against the side of her old bed, Finn continued to stroke Rey’s fur in a consistent, almost hypnotic, pattern as he looked around. He always wondered what she was like as a child, and this gave him some insight. She seemed like she was a normal child and except for the wolf plush that sat on her bed, there was nothing that would have ever tipped him off to the fact she wasn’t normal. There were stacks of books on cars and robots, paired with cute toys of animals (and more robots). Clearly, she had an interest in her field of work for a long time.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he carefully shifted to not rouse Rey. Rose Tico’s name gleamed at him on the lock screen, before he slid his finger up the touchpad to answer. “Yeah?” he asked.

“How’s Rey?” the woman on the other line asked.

Finn patted the wolf’s head again, smiling at how ugly-cute werewolves were with their short snouts. It was like the human face had to meet the wolf halfway, resulting in a squished in nose. Not what he would have imagined a werewolf to look like initially.

“She’s doing OK, I think,” he answered. “Just tired.”

“Good,” Rose sounded relieved. “I was worried.”

“She’ll appreciate you checking in on her.” But then a thought occurred to him. “Wait,” he interjected. “Aren’t you…?”

“My family is, but I’m not,” she explained. Rose sounded a little sad, but Finn wasn’t certain.

The thought bewildered him. “Wait, so werewolves don’t always have werewolf children?” He then briefly wondered if Rose was adopted and worried he might upset her.

There was a slight pause before she continued. “There’s been… issues with our children the last century or so,” she said. “Paige thinks it's genetic, but no one is certain. All I know is that my parents and sister can Change, but I can’t and I’m not the only one.”

“Oh! Um… sorry?” Finn wasn’t sure what the correct response to this information would be. Werewolves seemed to prefer their human forms, but a large part of their identity went into the Change as well.

He could tell the conversation was getting awkward. “It’s fine,” though Rose’s sigh in her voice made it clear that it _wasn’t_ fine. “It took time to get used to the fact, but it’s OK now.”

The subject was dropped from there as they made a few parting words. Finn promised that Rey would call Rose first thing in the morning to let her know the Change went well.

“You’re lucky to have a friend that really cares that much about you,” he told Rey, who looked up at him and thumped her tail against the ground.

She looked a little too cute like that and Finn had to resist the urge to talk to her like he would a puppy. He didn’t think she would take kindly to that.

“Wanna see what’s on Netflix or Hulu?” he asked her. 

Her tail beat harder and more rapidly on the floor. He took that as a yes.

* * *

Miles away, Leia Organa sat at her favorite rock overlooking a cliff and a view of a forest stretching about a mile or two before it came to a logging line and subsequently had been harvested for the lumber industry. This was where she always came to if she needed to think.

And she certainly needed to think right now.

A rustle in the brush told her that who she was waiting for was drawing near. “Luke,” she greeted.

The white wolf was noticeably grayer than the last time they had seen each other in their wolf skins. Leia would bet she was looking similar. Neither of them were as young as they used to be. Perhaps this was why the siblings had been struggling so much.

“Rey Changed again, or at least, she believed she would tonight,” he reported. Talking about his daughter made him seem like he was a decade older. Luke was tired. They all were.

“Is Finn with her?” Leia asked.

Luke nodded. “They’re at my house. Finn wanted to keep an eye on her and Rey didn’t feel up to coming outside yet.”

Curling her lips up as if to smile in the only way lupine mouths could, Leia was pleased. “I like him,” she said. “Rey has made a good choice for a mate. You should be proud.”

“I am,” Luke insisted with a sigh. “I just wish things hadn’t gone the way they have.”

Didn’t everybody? Leia wanted to ask. She obviously wished her son hadn’t killed her husband and attacked her niece’s mate. It had been horrifying enough to come home to find Han dead in the garage and a cell phone full of frantic messages from Chewie who couldn’t reach him and Finn, who was desperate to get help. Now the pack was faced with the consequences of not keeping their own in line.

And really, if anyone was more shocked by Ben’s betrayal, it was Luke who loved his nephew like a son. Hadn’t it only been the month before the attack that they sat on this very rock together and discussed what a fine pack leader Ben would have be? They even talked about the possibility of Rey being the beta leader the same way Luke had supported his sister for three decades.

She wondered where in his new pack her son found himself. Did the feral wolves care about leadership?

“We can’t ignore the feral pack anymore, Luke,” she insisted, deciding it would be better just to jump into an uncomfortable conversation. “We have for too long, and look what’s happened.”

“I know,” he huffed. “I know.”

But they were aware of all that had gone wrong and still had not taken action like the old laws required. The siblings knew why – who willingly wanted to kill their offspring – but they could not bring themselves to. Even they doubted their own abilities, they could just imagine what the rest of the pack was thinking.

This time, it was Leia’s turn to sigh. “Maybe we are getting too old for this.”

“Maybe we are,” he agreed. “But I don’t want to step down and land someone else with this. It really should be our problem to solve.”

“My concern is that we won’t be able to stop Ben,” she voiced. 

Luke lay on the ground with a whine, his paws hanging off the cliff. “I’m not sure what the answer is,” he confessed. “I want to protect our pack, but I don’t think either of us could end his life like the old laws require.” He huffed again. “Maybe you’re right and it’s our time to step down, but who could take our place? We need someone to fight Ben and I’m not sure if any of our wolves are strong enough.”

Staring out at the forest, Leia went quiet for a moment before she responded. “I can think of one,” she hinted. “She already came close to defeating him.”

A moment of realization flashed in Luke’s eyes, followed quickly with anger. “No, Leia. She’s too young.”

“She’s the only one who can-"

“I can’t lose her too.”

This was the heart of the issue. And really, who would want to send their child to do something so dangerous? Even Leia had her reservations to send Rey out to fight Ben, but desperation also meant that she didn’t have many other options. Rey had more to fight for at the moment, wanting more than anything else to protect her mate and her pack. She had shown more initiative figuring out where Ben and the feral pack went than anyone else.

“I’m afraid we might lose everything if we don’t figure this out soon,” Leia whispered.

Below them, in the forest, they could see the rustling of brush where their pack roamed together, the first signs of spring in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that I'm not so swamped with scheduled stories, I'm hoping to get another chapter edited and rewritten soon!


	7. Chapter 7

He never really enjoyed coming to this shopping mall because of how far down the light rail line it was from the apartment and because of all the gangs that hung around the area, but this was the closest location for this particular shop. The last time he was here, there were far more stores open and seeing two of the main department stores closed and the amount of vacancies were depressing. Everyone blamed online shopping, but consumers didn’t budge to continuing shopping in this mall. Most of those stores closed because of their company’s faulty practices and sketchy investments, anyway.

Counting his lucky stars that this shop hadn’t closed yet, Finn hesitated outside, staring in at the bold displays of women’s cosmetics. He was one of those guys that found a product he liked and stuck with it and rarely stepped foot in stores like this. Yes, he would admit that he would rather shop online for the convenience, using the excuse that the deals were typically better than in the stores. 

Taking one more glance inside, he spotted the back rack full of glass bottles in all shapes in colors imaginable and made a B-Line for that section. Finn was thankful that he wasn’t the only customer inside and hoped the group of teenage girls who were obviously skipping class would keep the workers occupied while he tried to make a choice. He needed to concentrate.

There were too many choices, and he didn’t know where to start. Going through all of those bottles would be overwhelming. He had to figure out how to narrow it down.

Well, maybe he could start by checking the prices first. If he couldn’t afford it, then there was no need for him to even look. That took out most of the biggest names of perfume industry and left him in the low to mid-ranged price categories. Rey wasn’t into big fashion designers. It was a special occasion to see her wearing anything other than jeans, a t-shirt, and those fleece jackets she wore everywhere.

Still, that left dozens of selections and he started to randomly browse the aisle, grabbing bottles that had interesting shapes or names and smelling the tester bottle left out. Most of these were too… _feminine_ for his liking and none of them reminded him of Rey. She was too rough around the edges to want to smell like flowers and sunshine. A wolf as proud as her deserved something to match.

A display in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he was surprised because compared to the other displays, this one was so understated and minimal that most people would overlook it. He had never heard of the brand before, but the clear bottles were labeled with simple typography and the scent names were straight forward. There were fun, cheerful scents named for sweets like _Chocolate_ and _Orange Cream,_ then there were odd scents like _Library_ and _Food Court_ that made him want to smell the bottle just out of curiosity. The scents weren’t just marketed for women though. Most were marketed as a unisex scent.

His hands roamed to a selection in the display full of more natural scents. _Ocean. Fir Tree. Wildflowers._ This was the section he was looking for.

After a couple more minutes of trying the scents and comparing them, he found one that was almost too perfect. He found the bottle in its box below the display and double-checked to make sure he grabbed the right one before he marched up to the check-out counter.

“Find everything OK?” the young woman at the counter asked as he approached.

He smiled. “Yep. Oh! Can I get this gift wrapped?” He knew it would cost a little extra, but they would probably do a nicer job than he could.

Out of the selection of gift boxes available, Finn liked the simple black box with a white ribbon the best. He placed that carefully in his shopping bag and made sure not to jumble it too much on his way home.

He couldn’t wait to see Rey’s face when he got home and presented it to her. Finn would admit that the last couple of months had been trying on their relationship, but no more incidents came up since December and he took his time really weighing his options. He was in it for the long-haul.

The gift was neatly placed at their small table in the kitchen area, a space only large enough for two, but perfect for them. Finn wanted to make sure that was the first thing Rey saw when she got home.

Checking his phone, he realized he only had an hour before he needed to get going to work his shift at the financial aid office. He wouldn’t need to do much to prepare but change into the school’s polo shirt as part of the uniform. The rest was casual and he normally just wore his jeans and sneakers. It wasn’t the best paying job out there, but the school worked around his schedule and he could contribute to rent and utilities. If it wasn’t for that, he probably wouldn’t have felt so comfortable moving in with Rey.

Glancing one more time at the gift as he went to get changed, Finn was counting down the time until Rey got home.

* * *

When he got home later, Rey wasn’t there, and the gift was still on the table.

With a frown, Finn checked his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed a text or a phone call from her. It was late, but sometimes she worked late as deadlines drew closer or she stopped in to check on Han’s old shop to visit with Chewie. 

There were no texts or voicemails.

“Maybe she went out with friends tonight and forgot to tell me,” he mumbled. It wouldn’t be the first time. They both spaced out and lost track of time easily.

But just to be sure, he sent her a quick text just to make sure everything was OK.

He was hoping his lack of patience wasn’t making him behave like a clingy boyfriend, but he couldn’t help his excitement. Finn hoped he chose her gift well.

Rey never came back that night.

When it was late in the evening and most of the restaurants were closed for the week night, Finn’s panic could not be quelled. He wasn’t sure what to do first, if he should reach out to her friends or family though he didn’t want to worry anybody if it was just that Rey was having car problems or something.

He tried Poe and Rose first and felt relief when Poe answered his phone the first time.

“Finn, what’s up?”

He took a deep breath. “Rey hasn’t come home, and I can’t reach her.”

There was a long pause on the other end that went on longer than Finn would have liked.

Poe finally gave him an answer. “She’s gonna be gone for a while, Finn. Not sure how long, but she told me she was taking two weeks' worth of PTO at her job.”

It took him a moment to process this. “Wait. Where is she going?”

“Uh…” It sounded like Poe wasn’t sure if he should answer, but Finn could take a guess.

He sighed. “She went after her cousin, didn’t she?”

The silence on the other line spoke volumes.

“OK,” Finn tried to talk himself through everything. “So, she left to find a feral pack of werewolves, planning to be gone for a week or two…” A thought occurred to him. “What if she needs longer or can’t get back?” He imagined Rey trapped in enemy territory, unable to escape because she was always watched by a guard of feral werewolves.

Poe tried to reassure him. “Paige and I have a plan in place to meet her if there’s trouble. We’ve hidden a cell in her car, and her car is hidden where hopefully no one will stumble on it on accident.” He sighed. “And once Luke and Leia figure out where she’s gone, they’ll likely want to go after her themselves.”

Right, and on top of everything, Rey’s family were pack leaders and like every concerned parent and relative, Finn worried that they might do something rash.

“How do you think this will end?” he finally asked.

“I’m not sure,” Poe confessed. “Rey went in intending to gather intelligence, but I know her and if she gets angry enough… Well, that’s why Paige and I are always on standby. We really think she’s taking it upon herself to right a wrong and we’re not sure what will happen if she tries to kill Kylo.”

There was even more to take in. What did Rey expect when she left without telling him? Did she… expect him to sit around and wait for her to return; expect him to understand? She already kept secrets from him, but while Finn understood why she would initially hide her other life from him, he did not understand why she thought he would be fine with her leaving for weeks on something that could easily put both of them in a dangerous position.

“Poe,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“I’m sorry, Finn.” And he sounded like he meant it.

Upon hanging up the phone, he slumped back against the couch and ran his hand down his face. He couldn’t believe this would happen after he spent the last couple of weeks deciding if all of this was worth it. Thinking he had finally made up his mind, this felt like betrayal.

He stared at the gift box on the table and wondered how long he had to decide to return it.

* * *

The forest was alive with scents and sounds unfamiliar to her, but the fir trees were fresh, and the air felt clean after a night of rain. For the first time in months, she could run freely in her wolf skin and it felt wonderful.

But she was not here for her own fun. Any moment now she would enter the feral pack’s territory and have to face whoever was out scouting. 

And just as she thought, too soon she found herself face to face with an enormous, snarling silver wolf.

Rey had never seen a wolf so striking in her life. Silver fur like this was rare, but almost as captivating as the color were the wolf’s bright blue eyes. The only other wolf she had encountered with eyes like this in her life had been her father. 

“Why are you here, girl?” the wolf asked her, her voice deep, but feminine. That might have shocked Rey even more. If it weren’t for the wolf’s scent, she would have assumed she was male. Rey had never met a female wolf so massive before. It kept her on the edge. She did not want to fight with this wolf if she could help it.

“I’m here-" she began, but paused. Why was she here that didn’t make it obvious that she was a spy? 

Why was everyone else here? What did they claim they were looking for? She quickly thought back to all those forums she scanned through.

“I’m searching for a new pack,” she explained. “Somewhere to belong.”

Hopefully, that was good enough.

The silver wolf circled her, looking her up and down. She snarled again, making Rey nervous.

“Is that _really_ what you’re here for, little Skywalker?”

Rey wondered how the wolf knew who she was. They never met before.

She wondered if she said the wrong thing as the silver wolf barred her teeth and snarled. Rey prepared herself for a fight by crouching down on her haunches, ready to jump away or at the other wolf if she needed.

“Stand down, Phasma,” a deeper voice grunted from the trees.

Twisting quickly around, Rey found herself in the company of another wolf, more familiar than almost anyone else. His black fur shone in the sunlight.

Kylo. 

He growled at the other two wolves, looking particularly at Rey. “I’m surprised to see you here, cousin. I thought you were busy building a love nest with that human.”

The mention of Finn made her heart ache. Leaving him like this had been difficult; leaving him without a word had been almost impossible. Poe, Paige, and Rose swore they would look out for him and tell him the truth once he realized Rey was gone, but their bond was strong and their promised didn’t make separation hurt even less.

 _Just two weeks, maybe one,_ she told herself. 

Rey looked her cousin in the eye and lied. “After the night you showed up at the cabin, we fought. He didn’t accept this form after all. You were right to believe that humans couldn’t be trusted.”

“You smell like him,” Kylo pointed out.

“I only just left.”

Only a month ago, she taught herself this story and decided there would be no way that Kylo wouldn’t see right through it. He was far too smart to fall for a weak lie.

Yet he seemed pleased with this, not to her surprise. What surprised her was that he was buying the lie. “I heard you were looking for a new pack?”

“One that will accept me as I am,” she continued, trying to remain as confident as she could. Fear created its own scent that a wolf would pick up easily. As long as she kept herself calm and her instincts controlled, she might make it out alive.

“You find yourself in good company,” he purred, gesturing to Phasma with a shrug of his large shoulders. It was only then that Rey realized that more wolves loomed in the shadows, ready for a signal of what to do. Not keeping her caution up might have been a fatal mistake. She would take the care not to make it again. 

Kylo continued. “You could find a better family here, better choices of a mate,” he said this part carefully. Rey noticed a red wolf behind him, thin and tall, looking at her with passing curiosity, sizing her up like prey. She didn’t like how this wolf was looking at her and noted him as someone she wanted to keep her distance from.

The red wolf spoke up. “Leave her alone, Ren.” He acted sympathetic. “She only just left the human. It’ll take time for her to feel ready to find another mate.”

She guessed this was Armitage Hux, then. There wasn’t a lot she knew about him except from what she saw online. He was good at persuading wolves that the way of the feral pack was the way to go and often returned to his human form to seek out those who felt lost and displaced in the world. Rey could see why he was good at his job.

Phasma still wasn’t convinced of Rey’s sincerity, though. It was obvious by the way she warily watched her. Rey would have to keep her eye on the silver wolf.

There were rules she would have to learn to help her figure out how she would live among this pack without rousing suspicion, but first she needed to establish herself as one of them.

“Will you allow me into your pack?” she addressed Kylo specifically, knowing he held more power here. Disgusting herself, she lowered her belly to the ground, asserting submission under him. She had to. It was a ritual carried out for millennia for a wolf to leave one pack for another.

Leaning his head skyward, Kylo howled to call the others. A new packmate had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry readers! Due to another wave of harassment on my fics, all new publishings and updates will be set to comment moderation until further notice.


	8. Chapter 8

It might only be for a week or two, but when Finn wasn’t sick with worry, he sat in their empty apartment seething in anger and frustration. 

Though he knew the _why_ behind Rey’s absence, that didn’t stop him from asking how she could bring herself to leave to do something so dangerous and without telling him. He thought werewolves we so devoted to their mates. Perhaps she knew that no matter what she said to him, Finn could not understand the full weight of her actions. Maybe she wouldn’t know how to explain it herself. Offering an explanation, no matter how convincing, would probably not have done much to reverse the damage.

He tried to act like everything was normal at school and work. Whenever someone brought his girlfriend, he told them she was out on a business trip to help with a project and wasn’t sure how long she would be gone either. _Not long_ was how he would word it, but really, two weeks seemed like an eternity when you were constantly on the edge.

When she returned, Finn was not even sure if he would take her back anymore.

Every day, he kept his phone close in case there was news, but he found himself disappointed. It took three days for her family to figure out she was gone. So, he was not surprised when Luke showed up at his doorstep, looking like he hadn’t slept in days. 

“I hope I’m not bothering you,” he greeted. “But I think we need to talk.”

Finn stood firmly at the door. “So, you know, then?”

“Poe ‘fessed up to Leia; he could never keep a secret from her for long. She’s known him since he was a baby.”

The door was held open, a gesture of hesitant welcome. Finn wondered what Luke had to say and whether or not he agreed with his daughter’s choice. He was glad that the gift was removed from the kitchen table. After a day of waiting, Finn couldn’t bear to look at it anymore and he knew he wouldn’t have been able to face her father with it sitting in plain sight.

Luke sat himself on the chair that Rey had hauled in herself after finding it at one of the local consignment shops. It probably was illegal to drive with a chair sticking out of an open trunk with nothing to secure it but a long string of twine, but she got it home fine and no one had given her grief over it. She had been proud of that chair. Finn felt off as he grappled with a happy memory when he was so angry in the present. 

It was an awkward moment before Luke cleared his throat and began to speak.

“I know she didn’t tell you, Finn, so I want you to know I’m not angry with you. But when she gets back, I’m not sure what Leia and I will do.”

“What about Poe?” Finn was more concerned about his friends at the moment than what might happen to Rey in the future.

“Poe, Paige, and Rose understand that their secrecy has put the pack in a tough spot. We know their intentions are with the good of the pack in mind, but if it happens again, we have no choice but to toss them out.” He saw the unease in the man sitting next to him. “I think they will comply from now on. No more secrets.”

It gave Finn some relief that at least those three weren’t in any trouble that would keep them out of the pack’s good graces, but he wondered if they had to abandon the plan to get Rey out later. “They told me they were going to make sure Rey got away from the feral pack later,” he said. “Are they still?”

A dark look flashed on Luke’s face. As calm as he usually was, this change made Finn nervous. “Maybe. Leia and I are discussing who should be the one to retrieve Rey. We might send another that we can trust more.”

It took a moment for Finn to recall who all the other members of the pack that he met were and he found that he probably only knew a handful from Han’s funeral. Rey told him about a couple that had volunteered to survey and spy on the feral pack, but he couldn’t recall a name or remember if anything came out of that idea.

What came next out of Luke’s mouth shocked him.

“Do you still have the rifle that you used the night Ben attacked you?”

Finn stood up and went to the bedroom where they kept their safe in the closet. He hadn’t looked inside for months, remembering the night all too well. Like his time in the service, he worried that glimpsing too close to the past would bring up too many bad memories and allow the nightmares to haunt him again.

Well, the medication was supposed to be helping with that, but some days, a pill couldn’t fix old wounds.

He used his key to bypass the lock combo and glanced inside quickly before dragging the rifle back out to the living room. Gently, Luke gestured to take it from him and settled it across his lap.

“This was my father’s,” he explained as he ran a finger down the neck. “My mentor, old Ben, gave it to me and then I gave it to my daughter when she told me she had selected a mate.” He looked at Finn pointedly. 

It reminded Finn of what Rey told him about her family and how against all the odds, a pack would allow the offspring of such a man as Anakin Skywalker to lead them. Leia had her adopted parents’ good standing to help her in politics, Luke’s aunt and uncle were just farmers and humans at that.

“Your father was feral, wasn’t he?” Finn asked. “Rey told me something about that.”

With a sigh, Luke relented. “He died about ten years before she was born. After my mother died, he left Leia and I to prowl the woods. He hated humans; blamed them for our mother’s death and killed any that crossed his path. Wolves too. Hunters looked far and wide for him and never got close enough to stop him.”

“But you stopped him.”

“I didn’t,” Luke confessed. “I was trained to be a hunter by my mentor – what better person to hunt a werewolf than another werewolf, right? – but I failed in my task the first time.” He held up his hand, covered by a leather glove, and removed it, revealing the pale plastic that was supposed to match his skin. A prosthetic. 

Finn was taken aback. Rey had certainly never told him about this part.

“Your father-?" he nodded to the replacement appendage. 

“That was when I first learned he was my father. I should have smelled it on him, but I was unlearned in the ways of wolves and naïve. My aunt and uncle were humans, you know. They couldn’t stop the Change each month, but they prevented me from running with a pack. Uncle Owen was afraid I would end up like my father, but he never told me who he was.” Luke’s eyes glazed, like he was thinking back to those days with both regret and wistfulness. 

He continued: 

“I went to Anakin, though everyone called him Vader by then, and challenged him. I stood in front of him in my human form, intending to put a bullet through his head. That was when he told me what we were and in the shock of it all, I could not pull the trigger. He lunged at me, mauled my hand, and by the time I could get help, it was already lost.”

Finn sat in his spot, his mouth open as he couldn’t help but stare at the limb. He tried to tell himself not to think about what Kylo might have done to him and tried not to imagine his own hand missing. It made his heart race as he tried taking a deep breath to stop the thoughts.

Rotating his arm as if to inspect the prosthetic, Luke finished his story. “I returned again to those woods a year later. It was around the time Leia and I figured out that were twins and around the time Leia chose Han as her mate. She was always a better wolf than me. There, I met my father face to face once more, only to learn that he wasn’t alone.”

“Was it another feral pack?” Finn was hoping to find a connection to all of this. 

Luke shook his head in the negative. “No, but there was another wolf. Ancient, I do not know how old he was, but he could barely walk and he was more skeleton than creature. Later, I learned the man was important to the national Senate and Leia found herself in a political climate dealing with the aftermath of his disappearance.

“I did not kill my father. Those two wolves, one feral, and one playing a game as it pleased him, killed each other. I did not expect the old wolf to kill my father, but he went after me first and my father took to the attack personally. It was over for them in just a few seconds. He used the last of his strength to Change one more time and died as a human.”

“He cared about you,” Finn breathed.

“Perhaps,” Luke shrugged. “To this day I wonder what made him have a change of heart. But the damage was done. Anakin Skywalker might be dead, but the fear he installed in wolf packs remain to this day. My daughter and nephew do not remember those times, but we once believed that humans would hunt us again and tried our best to keep to the shadows until the world forgot about the curious, killer wolf that never could be found.”

The two men remained silent for a few minutes. Finn stood up to go to the kitchen to get them both glasses of water and sat them down on the coasters on the coffee table. He needed to take a breather after hearing all that too.

Finally, after taking a gulp from his glass, he decided to talk again. “Do Rey and Ben know the whole story?” he asked.

“They do, but I know Ben ignores the part about Anakin protecting me and Changing back. It doesn’t fit the story he wants to hear. I cannot say that anyone knows what our default forms are, but we are born human, so most assume that’s what it is. Ben wants to believe we are really wolves hiding in human skins to survive.”

And to an extent, that explained enough to Finn as to why there were so many problems right now. He couldn’t begin to understand what it meant to lead two lives and have two vastly different forms, but he understood the fear that the wolves had being discovered. Had he not known a werewolf before he learned of their existence, Finn might have thought of them as monsters in the night, bloodthirsty and inhuman. He never explored the subject, but he wondered how many humans had awareness of the wolves… and how many wanted to exterminate them.

Finn didn’t want that. Not after he became friends with a few of them. Poe was a good guy, a good friend, and even though Rose could not make the Change herself, it was still a part of her. He didn’t want to hurt either of them.

And Rey…

Well, he didn’t want to hurt Rey either. He wasn’t happy with her, but he couldn’t find it in his heart to not care about her. Right now, he just wanted her to come back safe.

“Rey was acting strange about her cousin the last couple of months,” he told her father. “She was like, internet-stalking him, trying to figure out what went wrong.”

Luke nodded. “We noticed that too. Leia and I. She had more information about the feral pack than anyone else and probably pushed action the most.”

“You still didn’t do anything,” Finn pointed out.

The corners of Luke’s mouth twitched. “No, we didn’t and I think that’s why she’s gone.” He sighed and stood up, placing a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “It was stupid of her to go, but I know part of it was for you. To protect you. She doesn’t think you will ever truly be safe until the pack is taken care of.” 

“And yet here I am, worried out of my mind that my girlfriend is somewhere dead in a forest.”

The frown really did appear on Luke’s face this time. He heaved a deep sigh as he grabbed both the glasses and took them to the kitchen to clean up. 

“I like you a lot, Finn,” he said distractedly as he washed out the glasses. “And I think Rey made a good choice for a mate. I’m not sure if I have a say in anything but…”

“But?” Finn pressed.

“Depending on what happens, I’m not sure if you should take her back.”

Not exactly how Finn would imagine a conversation with his girlfriend’s father to go. He would have expected a father like Luke to beg Finn not to give up on his daughter. At least, when he thought about it, he would expect his mothers would do something like that if he and Rey switched places. He knew Rey wasn’t close with her father and there were trust issues between them – and really, with Luke’s absence during her childhood, Finn couldn’t blame her – but the pair were trying to make amends, even if slowly.

Luke stood awkwardly in the kitchen. “I don’t want to take up more of your time,” he apologized. “So, I think I should go. I promise I’ll call you if I hear anything.”

“All right,” said Finn as he held the door open. “Thanks for stopping by, and for telling me all this.”

As Rey’s father walked out the door, Finn glanced at the rifle laying carefully across the sofa.

* * *

When he got to the café situated in the dorm complex, Rose was already there waiting for him.

"Hey,” she greeted.

He grunted back, “Hey,” as he went to order.

A few minutes later and a couple of dollars poorer, Finn sat down next to her and noticed how tired she looked. To be honest, he probably looked just as bad. He wasn’t sleeping well with Rey gone.

“I heard you got in trouble with the pack,” he whispered, making sure no one was watching them.

She nodded. “Not as bad as Paige and Poe. I’m not a real wolf to a lot of people, so I usually get off easier than my sister.”

“Not the first time you’ve gotten in trouble?” he cracked a grin.

“Well, nothing like _this,”_ she confessed. “The first time was when my sister and I experimented with a homemade race car and crashed it over a cliff. Got a lot of attention with the media because we jumped out before it went over. No one thought anything wasn’t human about us, obviously, but between Leia and my parents’ wrath over us doing something reckless, it wasn’t fun.”

He sipped at his drink. “But you’re OK?”

“Yeah, for now. Ask me when Rey gets back.”

Finn figured if Luke and Rose said the other two were in big trouble, then he should probably call Poe. He hadn’t heard from him since the day Rey left, but he also could be away for his job. It wasn’t unusual for him not to hear from Poe when he was off flying shipments to other countries.

Rose turned the question on him. “What about you?”

“Huh?”

“How are you doing? With all of this, I mean.”

Leaning back in his chair, he looked up at the odd abstract art of what looked to be a guitar for a moment. “I’m not sure what I’ll do when Rey comes back,” he told her, prompting Rose’s eyes to widen. “She’s always kept her secrets, and I never really minded, but this is different. Obviously she wasn’t going to tell me herself, since she had you and Poe in the loop to let me know.”

Staring down at her drink, Rose looked like she was trying to avoid eye contact with him. He wasn’t sure how much she knew about the overall plan for Rey to intercept the feral pack since it sounded like Poe and Paige were the masterminds (if he could even call them that with their hair-brained scheme) of the idea.

“Rey said she thought you two were having problems. After the attack, I mean. Nothing felt right to her anymore.” When Finn gave her a sidelined arch of an eyebrow, she retracted sheepishly, “She told Paige and my sister blabbed to me. We tell each other everything.”

He ran his hand through his hair and down his chin, noting the stubble that had grown and wondered if he needed to trim it up. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Rey talking about their relationship problems to her friends because he did the same with Poe and some of his other buddies that he didn’t see nearly as much, but it told him there might have been other issues that even he wasn’t aware of. Secrets. Rey was always so secretive and while he excused it originally, chalking it up to her independence and need for some privacy, but now it was clear this was slowly chipping away at them.

“Are you sure, you’re OK, Finn?” asked Rose.

“Hmm?” he sighed. “Oh, I guess I’m really not.”

She looked at him sympathetically, then, her eyes twinkled mischievously. “I was thinking of taking up a new hobby. Stress relief, you know?”

“I guess?” Sure, hobbies could help with stress, but he wasn’t sure how effective they would be on this kind of stress.

Rose looked sheepish again. “Well, I was hoping maybe a friend would take it up with me.” 

He got the hint. She was hoping he would take up this hobby with her. “What is it?”

“Well, _shooting,”_ she answered. “I know you were in the army, so I wasn’t sure…”

Taking a moment to think about his response, Finn remembered how when left to his own devices to just concentrate and focus on a target, he found shooting a gun a somewhat enjoyable experience. It was when something alive was the target that it bothered him. 

The rifle that sat at home, the one passed down from father to son and father to daughter, reemerged in his imagination. Rose was an engineer that like to take on pet projects that worked with electrical components, she had never seemed like someone that enjoyed sporting hobbies.

“You want to learn to shoot for a reason?” he guessed.

“Is it obvious?”

Finn smiled. “A little.”

“If I can’t Change, I can’t protect my family. But I realized there is something I can do.”

Finn took another moment to think about the offer. He thought of those who he thought of as his family: Poe and Rose. His parents…

Rey.

He tried not to think of her.

“I’m out of practice,” he offered. “So I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

Rose’s face lit up. “Great!” She grabbed her phone and began tapping the touchscreen at a rapid pace. “I found a range that seems nice and affordable. I just need to get a gun.”

As excited as she was, Finn didn’t want to damper her mood over the fact that she was wanting to learn how to use a gun in case she needed to protect someone else. He supposed if he thought about it more like a hobby than a practical, killing skill, it would feel different.

“Let’s make sure you get one that’s right for you, all right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My guess is that this fic has hit its halfway mark, though that might have been a chapter or two ago. Because of how its a rewrite of a story I wrote in high school with some new elements to make the story more grown up and with added Star Wars characters, I know there are going to be some plot holes here and there. 
> 
> I'll have another chapter out next week. It'll be a bit short, since it only focuses on Rey's first day with the feral pack.


	9. Chapter 9

If it weren’t for the fact that this pack was so anti-human and had a taste for blood, Rey might have found the experience enjoyable. The spring air was fresh and brisk in the morning, leading up to days full of sun and rain to keep the forest alive and well. She loved that about her home and here was no different. 

For once, she didn’t have to worry about being spotted by a human in this form as she ran laps around the pack’s territory. Sometimes, human groups scouring the area for wolves would venture too close and the pack would hide until they left. Rey didn’t tell them that they were still searching for the animal that killed that hiker, but she realized they already knew.

No one said anything about who killed the guy though and Rey went back and forth guessing who it might have been. Her first guess was Kylo, but with Phasma and a few other large pack members around, Rey couldn’t be sure.

That was what she decided she should figure out first. If she couldn’t figure out a way to take the pack out herself like she had originally hoped (and by the look of things, she wouldn’t be able to), then the least she could do is take back information to her own pack on who they needed to deal with first.

The first night was uncomfortable for her because she had never slept outside overnight on cold ground or had a dinner comprising of fresh, raw deer meat. Unadapted to the diet, she vomited less than an hour later and browsed around for root vegetation she knew was safe enough to ease the biting pain and queasiness of her stomach. The other wolves were sympathetic to this and suggested that she continued to eat foliage and roots while eating small amounts of meat until her body was used to it. It would be a few weeks before she got to where she could eat like them, but they promised her it would happen. If they needed to, they would take her to human settlements and raid trashcans cloaked under the darkness of night.

If she had her human face, she would have scrunched her nose up at the thought of eating out of trashcans the way common raccoons and coyotes did. Seeing blood on her muzzle when she looked at her reflection in a puddle made her wonder why any werewolf would want to live a life like an animal when the comfort and convenience of humanity made things far safer and dignified. 

She could easily go about the day focusing on surviving and not being found out by the wolves, but when night fell and she found somewhere to curl up and sleep while the rest of the pack went out to hunt, Rey could not stop the pain that flooded her as the longing to go home became overwhelming. She missed her mate and her warm bed and the warmth he offered her, but she came here with a purpose and she didn’t want to return home a failure. Each time she thought about straying from the feral pack to find her car, she reminded herself that she was here because she didn’t want any more wolves to kill humans and her father and aunt had failed to follow the laws laid out centuries ago for the safety of all wolves.

Poe or Rose probably told Finn where she went by now. She just hoped that he would forgive her for leaving without saying goodbye. Rey had thought to tell him herself or to leave a note, but when she tried to find the right words, she found nothing. Nothing could explain why she left other than she felt like it was something she had to take upon herself. Kylo had almost killed her mate and succeeded in killing her uncle. How many more humans must die because her family couldn’t bring themselves to turn against their own?

When she got back, she would tell Finn everything. Or at least try to.

The second day she stayed with the pack, she observed how they behaved and ask selective questions that wouldn’t give away her intentions. She needed to get them to trust her if she had any hope of making this plan work.

Vi Moradi would have been a better option for this, since she knew how to adapt to different packs through trial and error. If it wasn’t for Kylo knowing her history, she might have been able to try. Rey realized that she should have picked her brain a little before she came here, but she worried about spreading too much suspicion and avoided talking about the feral pack as much as she could. There was no way her father and aunt would have ever approved of her being here.

Yet her familiar ties with Kylo was what allowed her to stay, and that was something. Maybe he was being soft on her out of a lifetime of childhood affection. He hadn’t talked with her much since their first encounter, and the scar on his face kept reminding her of why he got it. If she couldn’t keep her emotions in check, she might have outright tried to finish what she started in December.

She noticed him sneak away from the pack to go off on his own, but she dared not try to follow him out just yet once she noticed that the rest of the wolves seemed to understand to leave him alone. Rey knew he hunted when there was a need for food, but then, that wasn’t every day. There was something else he was going out for.

Until the pack didn’t keep such a close eye on her, she would have to stay in sight. None of them would probably let her wander around on her on without feeling the need to follow her. She gave it a couple of days of earned trust.

Rey thought she would quickly figure out the established pack dynamics, but found the pack’s structure to be… odd. Kylo had the makings of being an alpha, but he largely kept to himself and vanished multiple times each day. Sometimes, he would return with orders and the others would follow right away, but that honor usually went to Hux, who was not what Rey would have thought of as alpha material, but he was crafty and Phasma was more than happy to finish out anything he needed that involved brute strength. 

Kylo, Hux, and Phasma. Those were the three she needed to worry about the most. They kicked around the other pack members frequently, particularly a small, dark brown wolf named Mitaka who often delivered news when one of the three could not themselves. The other pack members were strong, but even Rey believed she’d be able to take them in a fight if she had to.

She hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

It was another evening of digging up roots when Kylo approached her. She had not seen him all day.

“How are you adjusting?” he inquired. Really, he didn’t look all that interested.

Rey continued her digging, not looking at him when she replied, “Still adjusting.” The less she said, the better.

“It’ll take some time,” he assured her. “You were so dedicated to your old life.” It was more of an insult than anything else.

She wanted to snap at him but resisted the urge. 

“When I think you’re ready, we’ll have a lot to talk about. There are many things I want to show you.”

“We can talk now.” She halted her search and stared him in the eye. If this was a wolf she didn’t know, her gaze would be seen as a threat, a challenge.

Kylo stood his ground. “Sure.”

“Why did you kill your father?” Her emotions ran high. “He loved you and you just…” She was too disgusted to finish her sentence. “How could you hate him so much?”

The black wolf looked almost uninterested in this topic. “I didn’t,” he said simply.

The answer took Rey aback. “Then why…?”

“It was something that needed to be done.” Kylo turned his back on her. “Attachment was no longer convenient for me.”

Rey had to hold back the urge to lunge at him again and the urge not to lose her breakfast. All this time, she thought Kylo killed his father because he hated him. At least, that seemed far more reasonable than having no reason at all. While Rey could not fathom how anyone could hate Han, least of all his son, who he doted on, she could not understand how anyone could kill someone else without some sort of underlying emotion attached to the act. The way her cousin responded, unemotional and almost without cause, frightened her far more than a blood-thirsty werewolf ever could.

“You’ll understand one day.” He seemed so certain of this as he walked away. “I’ll leave you to your search.”

Before Rey could react, he vanished back into the trees. Instinct made her want to chase after him and attack, but she knew the moment she tried would be the moment she would find a group of feral wolves jumping on her. Phasma would sooner break her neck than Kylo.

All of her focus went back into searching for food she could stomach, but she wasn’t sure the roots would settle anymore. She held back the bile that rose in her throat and tried to focus on anything but Han.

Her thoughts settled on when she would see Finn next and what she would do to tell him she loved him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter to fill you in on Rey's time in the pack. I'm not sure if I will have an update next week because I need to do some major edits to the next chapter and I need to focus on two fics that I had already scheduled for release. We will have to see!


	10. Chapter 10

He hadn’t been on a shooting range in years. Not since his days in the army.

The thought of getting back to his old sport made him both excited and nervous, and he took an extra dose of his anxiety medication before he entered the building. He might have understood that guns weren’t always used to hurt people, but his brain sometimes unintentionally did not. It wouldn’t do to have a panic attack in such a place.

There was still some doubt in his mind that he should tell Rose about his issues. He might be overacting and end up doing fine in the shooting range and he didn’t want to scare her into thinking he couldn’t or that he would have a mental breakdown the moment he heard a gunshot. There was still a lot he hadn’t told her. With Rey, someone he shared his bed with and who knew about his nightmares and why he still couldn’t bring himself to watch war dramas, it was easy to share those fears with. He liked Rose a lot, but he still didn’t know her all that well. She had anxiety issues too, and he worried that he might scare her if he hinted that hearing a gunshot might make his PTSD symptoms visible.

Right on time, Rose was waiting outside the range for him in her beat up old silver Subaru. It had been Paige’s car first, then passed along to Rose when she started needing to drive to get around. It was always easy to spot her car in a parking lot due to the huge dent in the back bumper. Paige had done that years ago, accidently backing into another car while staring at a free couch that she ended up not wanting anyway. Rose never let her live it down.

“How’s it going?” she greeted him when he approached the car.

He shrugged. “It goes.” Really, he didn’t have much else to say. His girlfriend up and left to join a pack of feral werewolves that thought humans were the scum of the earth. He slept less and less each night. It was hard to concentrate at school. Well, he could say all that, but why would he want to? Usually these sort of greetings were less about how your health actually was and more about conversational pleasantries. 

She got out of her car, dragging out a small gray case with her. Finn help her find a good semi-automatic pistol for beginners. It was a good size for her and should make it easy to teach her with.

They paid at the counter for an hour in the range and found that it was a quiet afternoon. Only one other person was in there besides them.

“Ah, good,” said Finn. “Looks like we got the place almost to ourselves.”

He started with explaining to Rose the basics of firearm safety. It seemed like the best place to begin, considering she was a complete newbie.

“OK,” he said, after showing her the basics of loading and safety. “First rule about holding a pistol: never rest your finger on the trigger.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Even I know that.”

“Good, then you know you also shouldn’t rest your thumb on the side of it either?” He looked smug.

She sighed and kept quiet from there.

Finn gave her instructions on her stance for target shooting and prepared her for her first shot. Once he was certain her ear protection was secure over her head, he gave his approval to squeeze on the trigger.

The subsequent _pop_ startled Rose as she stepped back in alarm. “Oh,” she said.

“You OK?” Finn asked.

She nodded, but her cheeks tinted pink. “Just taken by surprise. I’ll anticipate that next time.”

They looked over to see where the bullet landed. It was nowhere near the target, but she lost her aim after the shot threw her off. Finn didn’t expect her to be perfect the first time. It took him a few tries to even hit the actual target his first practice through.

Right now, Finn was just proud of himself for not flying straight into a panic attack. Maybe it was because he knew it was coming and that Rose wasn’t out to hurt him, but it surprised him all the same. It was hard enough to get through action movies as it was.

“We’ll keep trying,” he assured her. “You’ll pick it up quick enough.”

“It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.” Rose grinned. “When can I learn how to shoot a moving target?”

Finn would have laughed at her eagerness if it weren’t for the fact that she was asking because of a real concern of hers. He glanced back at the bullet hole in the backdrop paper.

“Let’s just get you hitting the target before we think about that,” he suggested.

* * *

It was surprising to hear from Luke so quickly after seeing him last. Finn could count how many times he’d met Rey’s father on one hand. Their strained relationship showed how father and daughter struggled to get along, and Finn guessed that Luke thought it was better to leave her be.

“The pack was hoping you would come to a meeting,” Luke said on the other end of the line. “It’s tomorrow evening… I know this is short notice, so don’t feel like you have to say yes.”

Blinking, Finn looked at his calendar. Tuesdays were a light workday for him. He only had one class that went on for two hours and a six-hour shift at his job. At the moment, with Rey gone and his friends either busy with the term’s end, Finn found his schedule open. 

“I can make that,” he agreed, which seemed to surprise Luke. “Is there a reason you want me there?”

He could almost hear the other man shrug. “We always let our human mates come to these things. Really, I think the pack just wants to check on you. See how you’re doing. I didn’t mention that you and Rey are having problems. We're going to discuss the situation with Rey but…” Luke paused like he was trying to choose his words carefully. “I understand if you don’t want to be there.”

“Where’s it at?” Finn wasn’t sure he wanted to go yet either, but he was curious to see how pack meetings went. He had learned a few things from Rey about them and they sounded almost like normal neighborhood meetings, or at least, it didn’t sound like a bunch of werewolves took over City Hall for the night.

Luke gave him the address to his sister’s home and Finn’s eyes widened at the street. The neighborhood was one of the wealthiest in the area. He was tempted to look up the house online just to see how much it was worth. Leia had inherited her parents’ home when they died; that was over 30 years ago. Rey never knew her aunt’s family, though she wished she could have. Bail and Breha Organa seemed like fascinating people and were loved by many.

“Let me double-check my schedule,” Finn replied, not wanting to seem too eager. “I’ll call you if something clashes with the meeting.”

“And if I don’t hear from you, I’ll assume you’re coming.” He could hear the smile in Luke’s voice. “Call me if you have problems finding the place.”

Humming in agreement, Finn hung up the phone before he ran his hand through his hair. “Should probably call Poe,” he said to himself. He wasn’t sure if his friend was back from his shipping route yet, but it would be nice to check. Even if he wasn’t happy with Poe (and to that extent, Rose) for hiding Rey’s plan from him, Finn trusted Poe’s advice on werewolf stuff.

He sent out a text and waited.

* * *

“Are you sure I shouldn’t be dressed a little nicer?” Finn tugged on the sleeves of his fleece sweater, noticing that Poe was still wearing his pilot uniform.

Chuckling, Poe patted him on the back. “It’s really casual here. I just didn’t have time to change.”

Feeling a sense of relief when he looked around and noticed the guests getting out of their cars were wearing similar clothing to him, Finn calmed himself. Even if he was going to the big fancy house of a state senator, he didn’t have to dress like he was going to a dinner party. Poe said the meeting would last an hour, tops.

They were greeted enthusiastically by Paige and Rose and Finn realized that this was the first time in months that he had seen the eldest Tico sister. 

“Hello again,” Paige greeted, holding out her hand for him to take. 

He reached for her and gripped her hand warmly. “Good to see you.”

Something in her eyes looked apologetic, like she could read his mind. While Rose only had put a small amount of her own input into Rey’s plot, Poe and Paige were also instigators. As much as he liked Poe and Rose, Finn sometimes found it hard enough not to point fingers at them. No one had heard from Rey in days and even if the pack assumed that was a good thing, Finn couldn’t trust that meant the feral pack hadn’t killed her already.

Leia and Luke were standing inside the house entryway to greet everyone. Poised as ever, Senator Organa welcomed Finn warmly.

“I’m glad you decided to join us,” she told him.

He nodded. “Thanks for the invite.”

“You’re always welcome, Finn.” Leia’s eyes were sharp as she told him this. “We thought you’d want to be here for this.”

Looking around quickly, wondering if he should bring this up in the open or not. It looked safe enough, even though Rose was curiously watching the interaction. “Is this about Rey?” he whispered.

The frown on Leia’s face told him enough; the matching expression of Luke’s only confirmed it. Finn knew they were twins, separated at birth and found each other again on chance and accident, but he never saw the resemblance clearer than now.

They showed their guests the way into the living room, where the pack would gather. It wasn’t as big as he expected, but it was grandly decorated in a style that reminded Finn of the Spanish paintings that hung in the local art museum. He wondered if any of these things had been passed down by the Organa family generation after generation.

Already, the couch and chairs were claimed by older members of the pack, though one man rose up to greet the newcomers. Finn had never seen anyone wear a capelet so fashionably, let alone an elderly man, but he wore it wear with a smile full of confidence.

“You must be the guy I’ve heard so much about. Finn?” The man grinned. “Lando Calrissian. Old friend of the family’s.”

Finn squinted, like he was trying to figure out where he had seen Lando before. “Weren’t you at the funeral?”

“Yeah, Han was one of my best pals. I didn’t get a chance to make an introduction but after I heard what happened to you, I wasn’t sure if it was the best time… It wasn’t a good time for anyone, really.”

True, between the shock of Han’s death and the terror of his own attack, Finn could barely remember the funeral and the following days after. It was a strange sense of numbness that stayed with him for weeks after. Sometimes, he would sit on the bus, staring out the window only to realize that he was about to be at his stop. Time warped oddly; sometimes getting to one place seemed like it took too long, and other times, it felt like no time had passed at all.

Suddenly recalling Lando’s name, he remembered a story Rey had told him. “Han won the old Falcon off of you, right? In a poker game?”

Heartily laughing, Lando nodded. “Yeah, biggest regret of my life. I heard she’s holding up well.”

“Han left her to Rey,” Finn told him.

A small smile appeared on the other man’s face. “Yeah, I thought he would. He was so disappointed that Ben didn’t…” he trailed off at the thought, eyes darkening. “Well, I know she’ll take good care of the old girl.”

Rey hadn’t driven the car yet, but she said she knew she had to soon. It wasn’t good to leave a car in a garage for too long. Not that Rey didn’t have interest in the car, it was just that she couldn’t bring herself to even sit in the front seat without bursting into tears. She missed her uncle, and the car reminded her too much of when he brought her into the garage when she was a kid and her own father wasn’t there for her.

Finn wondered if Luke knew that his daughter thought of Han more like a father and if he did, did he harbor any anger towards his brother-in-law? Luke, for all his faults, was trying harder to be in her life, but Rey still kept him at arm’s length. If he couldn’t be a father to her when she was little, why should he when she was an adult?

Her father looked troubled as he wandered into the living room and sat down towards the front. It was just a little while longer before a few more guests rushed in, followed by a collected Leia.

“Good evening,” she began.

There was a soft murmur of replies in the room.

“We have a lot to talk about tonight.”

A couple more mumbles sounded. One person, a woman that Finn didn’t recognize, middle-aged and blonde, was brave enough to speak up.

“We certainly do,” the woman snapped. “Were you going to tell us that both of your children betrayed us?” She looked back and forth between Luke and Leia with accusation.

“Rey hasn’t betrayed us, Freya,” Leia growled back. She crossed her arms with a glare. 

The other woman grinned darkly. “Then where is she?”

Leia couldn’t answer that herself. This time, Luke stepped in.

“We believe Rey decided to take matters into her own hands,” he tried to explain. “And that she plans to return… She didn’t plot this idea alone.”

“Ah, yes, our corrupted youth,” droned Freya. “Are we sure our young people aren’t just abandoning the pack or thinking about by and waiting to see what Rey has to say?”

Poe shifted uncomfortably next to Finn, like he wanted to speak up. On his left, Paige moved her hand to rest on his arm to stop him.

“We can’t get ourselves in deeper shit,” she mumbled.

Finn agreed with her there. He wished his friends felt like they could have included him in that little talk they had with Rey. Perhaps he could have talked reason into them.

Unhappy with the turn of events, Rose slumped in her seat and stared at the painting hung on the wall across from her.

Freya continued. “What if you’re wrong?”

That seemed to be the question that everyone else was asking. What if Luke and Leia were wrong? Finn did not know all the laws of wolves, but he knew when leadership was weak, and his girlfriend’s family were that in the eyes of their pack.

“We know we’re not,” said Leia. “There were plans made to retrieve her and she wouldn’t leave her mate.”

He felt the eyes of a few people turn their gaze on him. It didn’t make him so uncomfortable anymore; he knew a lot of them were just curious about him. Still, not all the people staring in his direction looked upon him with that passing sentiment. There were a few that looked at him with contempt, like an outsider.

“No,” Freya muttered. “No, she wouldn’t.”

They must be talking about the bond that wolves felt for their mates. Even if he couldn’t understand the same intensity that Rey might be feeling, he knew what love was. How many nights did he watch her while she slept peacefully, feeling a sense of calm between them? How many nights did he stay awake, worried about her as she was far out of his sight and in harm’s way?

Was Rey thinking about him the way he thought of her, wherever she was?

“We are not happy with Rey’s actions,” Luke assured everyone. “And when she returns, she will be punished as necessary.”

This seemed to please a few of the pack members, but some still didn’t look so convinced. If Leia was unable to bring her own son to justice, why should they believe that Luke would deal out a fitting punishment for his daughter?

“What kind of punishment are they talking about?” Finn whispered to Poe.

He shrugged. “Probably will just ban her from going out as a wolf for a while. Constant watch, that sort of thing. She wouldn’t get to take part in any pack activities until she’s earned forgiveness.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“It’s basically like being under house arrest as a wolf.”

That didn’t sound like too much fun, though Finn expected a lot worse. The wolves had strict punishments, some even what he would consider barbaric, but he knew he couldn’t get in the way of their laws.

But the discussion of Rey was not the biggest news of the night. After a few smaller matters were discussed, Leia made an announcement that charged the air of the meeting with static of anticipation.

“When Rey is back and we’ve figure out how to deal with the feral pack, Luke and I have agreed to call an Alpha’s Dance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so I did get this one edited in time. For the next couple of weeks, updates will be up in the air, as I will be focusing on putting the final touches of chapters for a multichapter fic with a set schedule.


	11. Chapter 11

“How exactly do pack dynamics work here?”

It took her another day to gather the courage to ask. She had hoped that she would figure it out on her own, but the dynamic here was… strange. Kylo would have been the obvious choice of an alpha or maybe even Phasma based on brute strength alone, but she could not figure out how anything worked. When Kylo wasn’t around, Phasma took over for him with Hux acting like the beta leader who made the decisions that involved putting effort into a thought process, but when Kylo was around, Hux remained quiet, either out of fear of the enormous black wolf or out of contempt for him.

She directed this question at Mitaka, the wolf the leading three often picked on, figuring this would be better to ask one of the pack members that was lower on the pecking order. Surely, one of them could explain it to her well enough for her to understand.

Nervously, the small brown wolf glanced around to make sure no one else was in earshot. “Hux would like to think he’s the beta, with Phasma doing all the heavy work,” he said. 

“He’s not?” Rey had been certain that Hux was the beta to Kylo’s alpha.

Mitaka shook his head. “No, Kylo’s the leader here…”

Confused, Rey tried to get him to clarify. “So which is it? Is Kylo the alpha?”

“That’s the thing: no one really knows.” Mitaka’s voice lowered, like he was about to tell her a secret. “We’ve been told there’s another in deeper in the woods. Our Supreme Leader, but only Kylo and Hux have ever seen him. The other wolves believe they follow the direct orders of this wolf.”

Rey wasn’t sure what to make of this either. She had never heard of a wolf holding absolute power while shrouded in mystery before. No one followed leaders unless they knew they were real. Her father took the lead as alpha in his youth, when he was about her age, and then he selected his sister to be his voice, his beta. Leia was a far better speaker and planner than her brother. Years of living a life of politics and mind games had prepared her for that role. Other packs often saw a mated pair take these roles but with more and more wolves pairing with humans, they had to take on other dynamics. An alpha might choose their sibling or their best friend for the role, others would take on a more strategic role to find someone to fill in the gaps with skills they were lacking in.

That was why for years, Rey assumed she would become a _de facto_ beta leader. Everyone believed Ben would rise to be an alpha and choose her to lead at his side. They weren’t wrong about him; he really did have what it takes. No one foresaw how he would take that title for himself.

“I’m not sure I still understand how all this works,” she confessed. “The pack is okay with following someone they’ve never seen?”

Mitaka looked frightened and pinned back his ears. “Do you think anyone here will challenge Kylo’s word?” he asked, before he quietly walked away. Rey wondered if she offended him or if he just didn’t want to get caught talking about the strange structure of pack leadership.

It sounded like there was no solid dynamic put into place to her. Had Kylo just waltzed into the pack and declare himself their leader? She could see him do that, but normally there was some sort of ritual in place to make the decision official. An Alpha’s Dance, for example. There needn’t be fighting when a Dance is called, but if all the eligible wolves stood down in the face of a strong wolf, it would solidify the wolf’s leadership. No one could contest the position of pack leader until another Dance was called by a challenger. Rey had only seen one Alpha’s Dance in her life when a foolish, young, and cocky boy decided he was stronger than her father. Quickly, he learned a middle-aged man was still a match for a 23-year old.

If Mitaka didn’t want to talk with her more, she would have to find someone else.

* * *

That someone ended up being Kylo himself. Hux might have been someone to talk to, but she couldn’t find him that morning. Instead, her cousin watched over the pack as they made their morning route along their territory to check for any changes.

“Who is this Supreme Leader I’ve been hearing about?” Maybe it was too forward of her to ask, but she thought it would be a place to start.

He looked surprised. “Who told you?”

“No one,” she told him, not wanting to get poor Mitaka in trouble. “The wolves talk among themselves. I heard the term get tossed around a few times.”

Kylo seemed to understand and not grow angry. “One day, I would like you to meet him. The Supreme Leader is wise.”

“But who is he?” Rey tried again.

“The Supreme Leader is wise,” Kylo explained cryptically. “He knows the ways of the forest and the ways of man.”

Rey wanted to roll her eyes. “I know he’s a werewolf, Kylo. I want to know who he is.”

“You will. One day.”

He really knew how to push her buttons. Almost every other sentence out of his mouth filled Rey with frustration and rage. She wasn’t sure if he was aware of this and doing that on purpose or if it was just his usual attitude. 

Finally, she just told him where her gaps in knowledge was. “I don’t understand how the pack dynamics work,” she confessed. “If this Supreme Leader is the alpha, why isn’t he here to speak?”

“I am his voice,” replied Kylo. 

“So you’re the beta leader?” she asked. “Was there no Alpha’s Dance to decide this?”

Her cousin shifted on his front legs, as if growing uncomfortable or impatient. “There was no need. The Supreme Leader has been here longer than all of us. He knows this forest just as he knows the humans that live near it. His council has served our pack well.”

Frustrated, Rey accidently growled out loud. If Kylo could smirk, he probably was right now.

“Soon,” he promised. He said nothing more.

* * *

The pack took her along the territory lines to teach her how they scouted the area. In due time, they told her, she would probably take on the task of a sentinel, making rounds along the area to stay on the lookout for threats or a potential meal. Rey wasn’t sure if she would stick around long enough for that to happen, but she’d rather have the solitude in the forest than be surrounded by a group of wolves she harbored contempt for.

Phasma taught her the ropes of the job. “I have faith that you will be a good match for the role,” she said, though there was something about her attitude that told Rey she thought the exact opposite of this. Then, the silver wolf showed her a series of low howls to use to convey messages to the rest of the pack. There were signals for mountain lions, for deer, even a signal if someone spotted a storm on its way in.

“But if you see a human,” she told Rey, “you have permission to run away or to kill them on the spot. The quieter the better. If you don’t think you can take them on yourself, come find the pack.”

Rey prayed she’d never come across a human in the short time she would be here.

That afternoon, she used the shade of the trees to keep the sun off her back as she foraged again. It was already becoming easier for her to find food she could eat, knowing what greenery hid nutritious roots and berries that wouldn’t make her sick to her stomach. The moment she got back to civilization, she was going to a drive-thru and buying as much real food to sate her stomach as she needed.

It was as she realized that she was alone out at the edge of the territory that she started to piece a plan for her escape in her mind. And really, as foolish as it was to put herself in this situation without a plan, the fact that she was coming up with something plausible now was worth the effort.

She would bide her time for now, keeping track of the days by placing a pebble on the ground where she slept. At the start of the twelfth day, if she was still here, she would make her escape. 

A glimpse of movement in the shadows caught her attention, and she turned her head to see Kylo watch over the pack from a distance. His eyes quickly glanced her way before he turned around to disappear back into the trees. 

Part of her wanted to follow him. Find out where he was going. Even get a look at this Supreme Leader she had heard so much about. Anyone that revised the age-old structure of alphas and betas had to be special, if he even existed at all. But Rey knew that tailing her cousin might not end well for her. He made it clear that he would allow her to follow him when he thought she was ready – whatever that meant.

Instead, Rey opted to continue to forage for food while she listened to the echo directions of Phasma in the distance. When she had filled her stomach, she would go back and join the pack in whatever they were doing. Maybe she would even get to take part in a hunt. Her wolf instincts liked stretching her legs and giving chase to prey, but the human in her found the idea of killing an animal with her jaws and claws just a little too barbaric for her taste. Already, she quite missed the ease of human life where she didn’t defecate in the great outdoors or have to use up precious energy to get food. 

A white root emerged from the ground as she dug at it. Unearthing her meal, she immediately bit into it and savored the taste of freshness and dirt.

“I really want a burger,” she said to herself, sadly.


	12. Chapter 12

It had been a week since Rey vanished.

Well, maybe _vanished_ was not the right word, but she had all but disappeared out of Finn’s life, leaving him in a state to wonder when and if she would come back. The apartment was too quiet without her and meals were lonely. Poe and Rose made it a point to eat with him whenever they could, sometimes Paige would join them, but Finn knew this was partly out of guilt. They were his friends, but he was realizing he needed to make human friends and wondered if Poe counted because he had no idea his best friend was a werewolf until years after they knew each other.

He wasn’t a wolf, and for all that Rey’s pack tried to make him feel as welcome as possible, Finn still felt that without her there, he was just a mere curiosity to them. Mates went to pack meetings to support their partners and their children, but without that connection, the humans did not have much need to be there. Half the pack was openly hostile about Rey and about Luke and Leia’s weakness. Finn had a hunch they called an Alpha’s Dance – once he learned what that meant – just to appease the pack. The thought of new leadership brought a different kind of excitement in their numbers and it deterred the anger aimed at Rey. Maybe it was a ploy to get them to not think about her so much, and to get her off the hook. Even Finn wasn’t sure if that was a good idea.

Now, he was just desperate to get news about his girlfriend and know if she was all right. He was furious with her, but right now, he just wanted her to come home. There would be time for anger later.

While new pack leadership meant little to him, he knew it meant the world to his friends. All of them were adults and young, in prime health to take part in the selection, well except Rose who couldn’t make the Change. She said she wouldn’t be interested even if she could. Finn really couldn’t see her being a pack leader, being as shy and anxious as she was.

He wondered if Rey could take part in the Alpha’s Dance and would she if she could? It sounded clear to him that she would be under close surveillance by her family until they felt they could trust her again. Would this mean she would be banned from this opportunity too? The Dance was a fight to first blood – it used to be to death, but that was outlawed decades ago – and he knew she could certainly hold her own in a fight. When he looked at the other pack members that might stand a fighting chance, he could only imagine a few of them being able to match Rey in strength and ferocity, though she might not fight them the way she did Kylo. 

Then he wondered what it would mean to be the mate of a pack leader and thought about Han. He didn’t sound like he took that much part in pack politics, but he took it on himself to help out the human mates when he could. Han probably saw himself in a lot of them, overwhelmed by the strangeness of a secret world that they would never truly get to be part of. 

Finn could see himself wanting to help other humans that were like him, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure if he would want to live the life as the mate of a pack leader.

First, Rey needed to come home, he told himself. Then he could think about this all he needed to.

* * *

“Are you trying to look all mysterious?”

Paige’s smile was teasing, and it made Poe feel more at ease. They sat across from each other on separate benches in the park, nothing but trees and quiet surrounding him. Poe hadn’t realized that she was already here until he sat down, making him feel like an idiot for not checking his surroundings and saving himself the embarrassment.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he practically leaped to the other side of the paved walkway to sit next to her. 

She grinned. “Nice save.”

Poe had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. “Thanks for meeting me here.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Paige warned. “Tell me what you wanted to talk to me about first.”

“The Alpha’s Dance,” started Poe. “I wanted to talk to you about that.”

She waited, urging him to continue.

Moving to face her directly, Poe looked serious. “Were you going to take part in it?”

The face that Paige made was hysterical. She began to laugh. “There’s no way I could compete, are you serious?”

“Why not?” he asked. “You’re strong.”

Shaking her head, Paige refused to believe him. “Not like the others. I’m fast, but that’s about it.”

“Are you interested in being alpha at all?”

Pausing, she looked down at the ground for a moment, lost in thought. Poe gave her all the time she needed.

“No,” she finally said. “I don’t think so.”

“You sure?” Poe raised a brow. “You’d be good. A fair leader, I think.”

“But not the kind of leader that could win an Alpha’s Dance,” she insisted. 

He continued to stare at her, not quite believing what she said. But instead of arguing further, Poe dropped the subject.

“I’m going to take part,” he told her finally.

Nodding, Paige seemed to not have issue with this. “You’ll do well,” she said. “Maybe you’ll even win.”

“Not if Rey takes part… or Freya,” he added.

This time, it was Paige’s turn to look at him in confusion. “Will Rey get to?”

He wasn’t sure, really. Luke and Leia were furious with Rey as it was and were threatening to minimize her time with the pack and her rights as it was. If they were going to put her under house arrest during the full moon, then there was no way they’d let her take part of the Alpha’s dance.

“She’s the only one I can see being too difficult to fight,” Poe admitted. “Maybe Freya, but I’m not sure if she’s interested yet. Haven’t had the guts to ask her.”

Paige did a quick calculation in her head. “So what? There’s like… five possible contenders including yourself? That’s generous if Rey takes part and we’re assuming Freya and Vi want to.”

“I was thinking more like four,” said Poe. “Vi’s not interested. She said she doesn’t think the pack will want a newcomer as a leader.”

“Probably right,” Paige mumbled. “As much as I like her.”

“I know,” he agreed. Vi was very likable and seemed to know her stuff, it was just that with tension in the pack as high as it was, someone new and from another pack wouldn’t be trusted enough with a job this big.

But that wasn’t why he asked Paige to meet him here. Though he was never one to be more ambitious than he needed to, this time, Poe had plans and he wanted to see them out. He just hoped Paige would be understanding.

He sighed. “I wanted to ask you if you’d be interested being my beta? If I win, of course,” he added that last bit hastily.

There was a thoughtful glance from her as she took a moment to think the offer over. “There are things I want to change,” she agreed. “And things I’ve been sitting on for too long.”

Wondering what she meant, Poe was about to ask her until an idea popped into his mind. “Your research?”

With a shrug, Paige sighed. “I don’t see why I need to hide what I’ve found from everyone else,” she admitted. “But the older generations want to silence me. They’re afraid of what I know, I think.”

“Luke? Leia?” They seemed like people that would listen to something like Paige’s research. The siblings might be getting on in years and struggling at the moment, but they were always fair. Surely, they would hear her out.

“My parents told me if I spoke up, the pack might turn against me. If I’m right, this won’t be an issue for a couple of centuries at least, but no one wants to face the truth. We’re kinda hypocrites, you know? We always talk about how easier it would be to just be human, but the moment something threatens how we see ourselves, we do our best to set ourselves apart from them.”

Poe nodded sympathetically.

“If you were beta, you could bring this up freely. Everyone should know… Though I can’t say I really understand the science behind it,” he chuckled. Then, he held out his hand. “So what do you think?”

She reached out to take it. “This sounds crazy to me,” Paige admitted. “But if you win, I’ll be right behind you.” What she didn’t say was whether she was agreeing to be his beta, but he figured she still wanted to think the offer over. He didn’t mind.

Poe was just happy that someone was behind him.

* * *

It was the next afternoon that Paige found herself sitting at the Organa house with Luke and Leia. She took her conversation with Poe to heart and realized that in her fear of more rejection and backlash, the leaders of the pack had always heard everyone out and tried to keep everything fair. That was when she decided that she could trust them with what she was about to tell them.

She called them the moment she returned home from the park.

“What’s the urgency, Paige?” Luke was the first to address her at the table. He waited, but she could tell he was impatient by the way he shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. Perhaps he thought she was there with news about Rey.

“I’ve found something in my research, and I think it’s important I tell someone,” she said.

The siblings glanced at each other quickly, questions in both their eyes. 

“Research?” Leia asked.

Paige nodded. “I’ve been using samples of DNA from myself, Rose, Poe and Rey. They offered to help.”

The look on the pack leaders’ faces were of disbelief, but also like they were trying to hold back the anger likely settling in them.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” asked Luke.

“And possibly illegal?” Leia finished.

Paige wished she could rewind a few minutes to chicken out on saying anything. “Yes,” she whispered, horrified. “And yes.”

“Does anyone know?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been very careful,” she assured them. “Most of the lab workers don’t pay much attention and I always make sure I’m the last to leave so I can get everything out in secret.”

Another glance, like the siblings were communicating to each other silently. Paige hated when they did this. She had no idea if she was in trouble or if they would hear her out.

Finally, Luke broke the quiet. “What have you found?”

Not sure how to say this in a delicate manner, Paige decided to come clean and just start from the beginning.

“I compared Rose’s genes with mine, to try to figure out why she couldn’t Change,” she started. “That’s all I wanted to find. I figured it was just a protein wasn’t turning on the gene but…” She tried to use as simple of language as she could. Not that she thought Luke and Leia were dumb, but neither of them had backgrounds in biology and this stuff could get confusing quickly.

“You found something bigger?” Leia guessed.

She nodded. “More than I imagined. At first glance, there’s nothing to suggest anything is different about her and I hit a roadblock for a while. It took me a while to think things through and look at Poe and Rey’s samples of the same gene. Then I realized there was a tiny difference, a mutation so minor that anyone might have overlooked it.”

“And that’s why she can’t Change?”

“I believe so, and why she can still smell and hear as well as the rest of us.”

Luke wrote something down on a journal in front of him, like he was trying to take notes. “We thought this might be the case, we just didn't have any evidence behind it. We have other children like your sister,” he observed. “Would we see this mutation in them too?”

Paige nodded. “Possibly.” Then she corrected herself. “Probably. I’d have to look at more samples to really know for sure, but I’m confident this is what we would see. And if I’m right, we’ll see more and more of this changed gene. One day, all of us might have this gene.”

The revelation startled Luke away from his journal and Leia stared her down. “All of us?” he yelped. “What do you mean?”

“Each generation we have more and more children unable to Change,” Paige continued. “My parents are both wolves. They can Change just find. They had me, who can Change. And my sister, who can’t. That means it’s not interbreeding with humans that’s causing this. As each new generation is born, we’ll see more children born with this mutation until one day, centuries from now, everyone has it. No more Change. We’re humans with heightened senses.”

“That’s not going to run well with some wolves,” Leia warned.

“I’m being careful about who knows. So far I’ve only told Rose everything. She deserves that.”

“But are you sure she can keep that secret?” Luke asked. “Just telling the wrong person can put both of you in danger.”

Anger grew in Paige. “Rose won’t tell anyone else,” she exclaimed. “I know my sister and my friends. This won’t really affect any of us, so I’m not sure why I have to keep this quiet. We should know ourselves and our future.”

“Your research threatens our identity,” Leia observed. “That pack Rey’s off with identifies with what makes us different from humans. They feel superior. Even some of our pack believes the Change is a blessing unto our kind. Now tell me: what do you think will happen if this came out?”

Already knowing how deep the hate of the feral pack went, Paige knew what they would do. It was her own pack she wasn’t sure about. “We’d have to question our identity,” she answered. “And the feral pack might turn even more violent.” A terrible image played in her head. “They might even kill their offspring if they can’t Change to attempt to cull the genes they don’t want.”

Luke nodded solemnly, but Leia spoke up again. “I know there’s nothing we can do about this if it is true, and I believe you when you say that centuries down the line, there won’t be any true werewolves left, but we’ll all be dead by then, so there’s no use fighting the inevitable.”

“So we continue to lie to everyone?” Paige asked. The concept of keeping things in order for the sake of ignoring science seemed wrong to her. “One day we won’t be able to anymore.”

“But that won’t be our problem, Paige,” said Leia. “One day, you’ll understand. You can’t win every fight, especially the ones that aren’t even ours to begin with. We already acknowledge that more of our children aren’t making the Change. It’s a start and we’ll pass down what we know to the next leaders in hopes that they will make the right choices too.”

The thought of Poe becoming alpha made her wonder what he would do when he learned all this. She had already explained that she wasn’t positive of her findings yet and so wanted to hold on to the information until she was sure. Would he take Luke and Leia’s advice and hold on to this information, or would he make an announcement of it? Paige wasn’t sure what she would want if she became his beta. Her background in science made her want to share what she’s learned with everyone, her sense of morality believing in the freedom of sharing information, but she knew there would be repercussions for sharing and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to face those either.

When she left the Organa house a few minutes later, Paige knew her thoughts and questions would be keeping her up that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I had a big chapter for another story needing my attention. It might be another slightly-longer wait for the next chapter too.


	13. Chapter 13

One week.

She was counting the days until she could go home. Now, Rey believed she had a decent escape plan in order. She knew the patrol routes and schedules well enough, memorized who would be where and when. There weren’t enough pack members to watch every part of the perimeter of the territory, and Rey hoped that would give her enough opportunity to escape and get back to civilization before the other wolves realized she had abandoned her post.

It took a lot of effort for her to push away her thoughts of freedom from her mind. Even if the other wolves couldn’t read it, she was paranoid that her intentions would show in her expression and actions if she spent too much time thinking about it. She had made it seven days already, her body adjusting to raw meat and smaller portions than she was used to, an intended to make the most of her remaining time there.

And the best use she knew of what to gather what information she could.

The pack was trusting her, and she knew this by how they were including her more in everything. They were starting to let her in on the gossip, and her ears listened keenly for any kernel of truth that might be of use for her family.

For example, everyone knew that Armitage Hux was the bastard son of Brendol Hux, the product of an affair, and the younger Hux never knew his birth mother. What Rey had never heard before though, was that Hux got Phasma to challenge his father in an Alpha’s Dance and killed him, making her the default alpha. With Phasma’s disinterest in leading the pack, however, it was expected that Hux would just take over, but no one saw the Dance and the old pack suspected foul play.

That at least, in part, explained why the pack dynamics were so odd. No one followed the tried-and-true way of selecting a leader, and so legitimacy was always called into question. Once Kylo stepped in, no one wanted to call a Dance, knowing he would crush all the challengers.

So now they were a feral pack with strange dynamics and rules that Rey was having a hard time following. Some wolves preferred the orders of Hux to Kylo, others rather would follow Phasma, but all took orders from Kylo, afraid that he would harm them if anyone retaliated against him. 

And then there was this baffling concept of this mysterious Supreme Leader…

It was at least certain he was real and not just a lie on Kylo’s part. Hux had seen him, and Hux would quickly dispel any lie of Kylo’s out of spite for the black wolf. 

It was hard to fathom that a figure that never made an appearance to the pack would hold such power, and that was why Rey needed to get a glimpse of this wolf before she left. Any wolf that Kylo bowed to had to be exceptionally strong. 

She needed to know what her family would be up against if they needed to fight the feral wolves.

The next time she spotted Kylo stalking through the woods, she resolved to follow him. It would prove tricky to do this without him detecting her. Get too close and her scent would carry in the wind. She hoped doing this while he hunted would keep his focus on his prey, another doe, rather than make him more likely to pick up on her presence.

Staying as far away as she could, Rey ducked into the foliage for cover as she watched and waited. When Kylo was on the move, she’d count seconds until she decided it was safe enough to follow behind him, slowly. She had to take care that she didn’t make any sounds, treading lightly on the pads of her paws and stopping herself before she touched down on anything fragile like sticks and piles of dead, dried leaves. 

When Kylo leapt into action to take down the doe himself, she waited again. Her cousin ended the creature’s life with just a strong bite to the neck as he pushed it down and waited for it to stop struggling as it bled out on the forest floor.

Unusually, instead of calling to the pack to make the success of the hunt known, Kylo remained silent and tore a strong, muscular limb from the body. He dragged it away, deeper into the forest where he often disappeared to. 

Now was her chance.

She was on the move again, weaving through the trees and brush while trying not to lose his trail. This was a part of the territory she was unfamiliar with. None of the other pack members were allowed to approach this area; if they tried, they would be chased out by one of the larger pack members put on patrol.

Within a few moments, she realized that Kylo’s trail suddenly stopped cold. She wasn’t sure how that was possible. Tracks couldn’t just vanish like that. She looked around her, hoping to glimpse of him to get her back on track. 

Just ahead of her, she saw the fresh limb left on the ground. 

Before she could react, Rey was forced to the ground on her side. She yelped from the shock of the impact of something strong against her.

“You never did follow orders well,” Kylo growled above her.

“Ben,” she pleaded.

“That’s not my name.” He pressed his front limb into her throat lightly, causing her to choke and gulp air. A warning. “You need to learn your place.”

He let go of her and Rey jumped up, cowering away from him as she tried to catch her breath. Likely, her throat would feel sore for a while.

She kept her distance from her cousin as he looked her over, pondering. Then, he spoke again.

“Actually, come with me. The Supreme Leader has wanted to meet you. Now is just as good a time as any.”

Wearily, she watched as he went back to grab the deer limb. He stared back at her with the meat in his mouth, beckoning her to follow him. She hesitated at first. Why would she follow a wolf that had just attacked her? Then, she realized she likely had no choice. He wanted her to follow orders, his specifically, and probably wouldn’t hold back the next time she disobeyed him.

When she took her first step towards him, Kylo was pleased. He continued his path deeper into the forest while Rey tried to memorize her surroundings. It proved to be impossible because she was so unfamiliar with this part of the territory.

Her cousin brought her to still pond overgrown with water foliage and brush. It was peaceful, serene, a place she might have come to relax if it wasn’t forbidden to her.

At least, it was relaxing until Kylo went over to a gigantic and old fir tree and dropped the limb to the ground. “Master,” he greeted.

A gangly leg appeared from behind the tree. Skeleton-like and ancient, a pale, sickly wolf pulled himself upright. His limbs crackled from the effort.

“Thank you, apprentice,” he grunted.

Rey stared at this elderly wolf in disbelief. This frail creature was the Supreme Leader she had heard so much about? How could he be an alpha when he looked like just the slightest breeze would topple him?

“I brought my cousin,” Kylo told the old wolf. “She’s been insistent that she meet you. I hope you don’t mind.”

The pale wolf craned his neck over to look at her. His eyes were clouded over with cataracts, and he drew closer. Without Kylo and the rest of the pack helping him, this wolf would not have survived on his own.

“Such strength,” he observed. “Young Rey, welcome.”

She wasn’t sure how to proceed, still not believing her eyes. Manners, at least, could get her far.

“You honor me, Supreme Leader.”

He hummed, pleased. “Charming,” he commented. Then, he turned serious. “What brings you here?”

It took her a moment to come up with something. She hoped he wouldn’t see through her lie. “I just wanted to meet the Supreme Leader,” she said simply. “To know who’s responsible for this pack and its greatness.” The sentence left a sour taste in her mouth, feeling mechanical.

The wolf gave her a side glance. “Is that so?” He chuckled, making Rey uneasy. 

Her heart clenched in her chest at the revelation. Surely, she couldn’t have been that obvious?

“There’s more, isn’t there?” the pale wolf asked. “Questions. So many questions.”

“Well, yes,” Rey admitted. She wasn’t going to lie about that.

The old wolf urged her on. “I know your story,” he said. “The wilderness calls to your heart. Recently bonded with a mate – human. Such a shame. I bet it’s hard for you to be away from him, isn’t it? Even if you know you chose wrong.”

If there was one thing that was never a mistake, it was choosing Finn as a mate. In another situation, Rey might have attacked anyone that dare insult him, defend her mate’s honor, but here, she had to play along.

“It is,” she told him. “I think about him every night as I go to sleep.”

“The pain will fade,” the wolf assured her. She could tell by how he acted that he didn’t really care. “You are young. There are plenty of young wolves to choose from, better mates.” He thought for a moment. “Maybe Hux-" Then he hummed as he stopped himself. “No, there are far better matches.”

The suggestion made her want to gag. 

The wolf almost seemed to understand her sentiment. He laughed darkly again. “No, Hux would not suit you. Your human mate was nothing like him, huh? He was strong, a right match for you. It’s okay to admit it. There is no shame in that. Many of us have had human mates; it helped us survive this long.”

“But we can’t truly be ourselves with them,” Rey said sadly.

The pale wolf acted sympathetic. “No, that is no fault of your own. The humans have tainted us, forced us to be like them. Now, our line is being threatened. Our children not able to change into their wolf skins without pain. Some can’t even Change at all. You know a few like that.”

Rey thought about Rose and all the times she would watch as her family Changed in front of her, trying her best to not show how much it bothered her that she couldn’t join them.

“Such offspring are not wanted. We cannot allow defective genes to continue.”

If she wasn’t still playing spy, Rey might have ripped his throat out on the spot.

“There are plenty of wolves to mate with, young Rey. Purer lines. When you find the one for you, it will be a glorious day for our kind. Your children will be strong. We could not ask for a better mother for them.”

Offended, Rey’s anger grew by the tenfold. Was that all she was to them? A womb? She might end up being a good mother, but she doubted that three-quarters of the males in the pack would make good fathers. What about Phasma? Did they think the same of her, or was she the exception for not having traditionally feminine qualities?

She chose to say nothing. Better to make them think she had no opinion.

“May I ask,” she began carefully, wanting to change the subject, “why a feral pack? What is the point of us being here besides the freedom of being away from humans?”

Chuckling again, the old wolf answered, “You mean, why separate ourselves from our oppressors?”

“Well, why we choose to this way?”

The pale wolf looked to Kylo. “Why don’t you tell her this, my apprentice?”

Rey didn’t like where this was going.

Her cousin would have been smirking if he had his human face, she knew it. “We are growing in number,” he insisted. “Soon, we could overtake the human’s territory, claim it as our own. Not only are we stronger than them, we also can think. They won’t expect that.”

Sounds like a great way to get the whole group exterminated, Rey thought to herself. If their goal was just to live out their days in the wild, she would have respected that and left. But not only did they already kill a human, they were planning to hurt more. Humans had weapons and unless the pack was planning to return to their human forms to use their own, the werewolves would be no match for a bullet. Humans didn’t need silver bullets to kill them, it just made everything quicker.

“It is our destiny,” the old wolf agreed.

She realized she didn’t know the wolf’s name, if he even had one. It was hard to imagine someone so skeletal and ominous as a man. Maybe he had always been a wolf. 

But what she knew now was that this feral pack wasn’t intending to live out here quietly. While she already figured this when they killed that hiker, she could now say that they didn’t intend to stop there. There would be more killings, more people put into danger.

She needed to get back to her family to warn them. Every wolf should know if they were in danger.

Tomorrow, she would make her escape.


	14. Chapter 14

She planned her escape route the night before, hoping that her scheming didn’t show in her actions and body language. If she wasn’t careful, some smarter member of the pack would pick up on her hiding something. Rey also knew she couldn’t assume that anyone didn’t expect her to run. Kylo certainly knew her well and their Supreme Leader, as old and oblivious to her real plans as he was, understood her quiet suffering from being away from her family and her mate.

What she didn’t do the night before was isolate herself, knowing it would make her look suspicious. She ate with the pack and stayed as quiet as she needed to be without giving anyone the silent treatment. When anyone asked her how she was faring, she lied and praised the hospitality the pack showed her; at least it seemed to please a few of them. Some pack members obviously thought she was being an ass-kisser.

The next morning, she bided her time as she did her duties as a sentry. Days of studying the patterns of the pack and their movements made her confident she had one window of opportunity to get away. She would try to avoid a direct route to her car in hopes it would lead any followers off her trail, but this was the closest she could get to the direction she needed to go and the farthest away she was from another pack member during the day.

What worried her the most was Changing. She couldn’t drive in her wolf skin and the Change could take time. Somehow, she would have to time it perfectly. It was possible to begin the Change during her run and try to work gradually through the pain, but it could also slow her down. Rey would have to be careful if she wanted to make the last part of the Change – the part where she would be the most vulnerable and less mobile – in the back seat of her hatchback.

She hoped no one could smell the stress on her. 

Sentry duty relaxed her a bit, solitude and space from the rest of the pack allowed her to clear her mind while she wandered aimlessly. When the time to move to the next area was called, Rey dutifully padded deeper into the woods. 

Growing closer to her targeted area, anticipation prickled at her spine. Her legs longed to jump into a run and leave this place for good. Sure, it was nice to connect with nature, but Rey rather live her life as a human with all the conveniences attached to that life.

Just as she was thinking about making a run for it, to her luck, a sentry to the east called a hunt. Deer, probably. There were so many in the area. The pack hunted one every couple of days. If they weren’t careful, Rey observed they might overhunt the area quickly. Real wolves didn’t eat every day in the wild, but the werewolves, accustomed to their habits as a human, probably did.

This was her chance. A distraction like this didn’t always show up at an opportune moment.

She bounded northward, away from where the pack was heading and took care not to be spotted by another sentry that was answering the call. 

Weaving through thick patches of trees, careful not to step against sharp sticks or fall into the burrows of small animals, Rey began to feel excitement that this was going according to plan. In a few hours, she would be with her family again.

By her estimate, she was about two miles away from the territory line when she allowed herself to slow down. Rey wasn’t foolish enough to stop, but a brisk walk to allow her to catch her breath wouldn’t be bad.

Keep moving, she told herself over and over, even as her legs started to ache and beg for a break. If she stopped now, the pack might catch her. They probably already noticed her disappearance. 

And she was right to believe it, for as she continued her path in the woods, she picked up a scent she wished she hadn’t.

She thought she glimpsed a flash of silver in the distance, but she tried to tell herself she was just being paranoid. There was no way she could have found her that quickly…

A crack of fragile twigs nearby startled her.

Instinct made her want to hide, but Rey knew if she did that, the pack would find her. No, she had to keep moving.

Avoiding clearings, she tried to keep herself covered. She would leave tracks that the pack could follow later, but there was nothing she could do about it. By the time she got in her car and drove off, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with her. Rey doubted they’d leave the forest to pursue her, anyway. 

She kept trying to make a zigzagged, random path as she started to jog again. Make it as hard for them to follow her as possible. Rey was not specifically religious, but she prayed that she would not be caught. Her cousin may have excused her the first time she disobeyed, but she doubted he would let her go unpunished if the pack caught her out here. If he let her live, that is.

Another crack in the distance scared her into a run.

It was thanks to her anticipation of an attack that she could get out of Phasma’s range when the silver wolf pounced upon her. Sliding to a stop to avoid hitting a tree, Rey maneuvered herself away from her foe’s jowls. She wanted to keep running, but she knew Phasma was in better shape than her. She would catch up quickly, like she already had, expert tracker as she was. If she wasn't being hunted, Rey might have been in awe of the skill of her pursuer. 

No, if Rey wanted to make it out of this, she would have to fight. 

Recovering from her missed leap, Phasma stood strong and barred her fangs. “Traitor,” she snapped.

“Not really,” answered Rey. “I would have to be one of you first.”

An ear-piercing roar rolled out of Phasma’s throat as she lunged again. She had strength and agility behind her movements, making her almost more dangerous than Kylo. Rey was strong, but nowhere matching the silver female.

She would have to rely on her wits here.

Rey began to run away, knowing her attacker would follow. She ducked under brush and downed logs, careful not to trap herself by an obstacle she couldn’t get around. It would have been helpful to know this area better, but at least she and Phasma were evenly matched here.

Her best hope to get away was a gambit, but she might find what she was looking for if she just kept her eyes open.

A narrow spot is what she needed. A place to leap away and get the edge on the other wolf.

Phasma was quickly catching up to her.

She followed the incline of a steep hill that ran perpendicular to a stone ridge. With luck, that would give her a chance. She urged her muscles to hold on for a little while longer, her legs taking stronger, longer strides that almost added a leap into her run.

The path she envisioned in front of her was getting narrower and narrower. Rey could not believe her luck, but as much as she wanted to believe Phasma would think she was about to trap her, she knew the feral wolf might have an idea of what she had planned.

Just as she thought she was out of reach, her foe lunge forward with a burst of speed and bit her on the ankle.

Biting back a yelp, Rey willed herself to keep going. She just needed one opening to stop Phasma.

She might have one.

Using her strength, Rey pushed herself up against the narrowed walls of the crevice, using the solid stone and dirt to give her leverage and pull her out of reach of the wolf below her. She wasn’t foolish enough to believe this would stop Phasma, but it might give her some time.

Noting how the silver female was trying to follow, Rey quickly backtracked to the far side of the crevice and jumped onto the back of her foe. Teeth barred, she sunk her jaws down into Phasma’s neck, allowing blood to mat the gray and black fur.

With a grunt, Phasma shook to toss Rey off, but it wasn’t a strong enough push to send her flying against anything. Even with her hurt ankle, Rey caught herself and skidded to a stop. 

There was blood soaking Phasma’s neck. If she pushed herself more, the effort might actually kill her. She seemed to understand that and didn’t attempt to make another move.

Rey took this as her opening. Leaping back up the crevasse, she bolted into a jog and hoped that her ankle wouldn’t be further injured from the exertion. 

She willed the Change to ripple through her bones.

Painful as it was to do this as quickly as she was trying, she did her best to keep moving. And she chanted to herself _keep_ moving as she sluggishly treaded through the forest, even as she no longer resembled a wolf nor a woman. 

The further she ran, the stronger the familiar scent of the woods became. It helped her mind focus through the cloud of pain that shot through her. She had been here before. The scratch marks on the bark of the surrounding tress confirmed this. She made these on her journey to the feral pack, hoping these marks would help her find her way back.

Yes, this was the place.

She spotted the silver hood of her car a little ahead. Covered in dried leaves and a thin layer of dust, it looked like no one had touched it. 

Diving under it, she felt around for the stone she used to mark where she left her keys, buried shallowly in the dirt to secure them. Her hands were human again and helped her grip and search for cold metal.

The loop of one of the rings slipped around a finger.

“Yes,” she gasped as she closed her hand around it. The jingling of her keys as they bumped against each other were a sweet sound to her ears.

She gathered herself back up and brushed the dirt that collected on her naked human body. Her ankle was in agony, but it looked like the bleeding had stopped, leaving a large bite mark in its wake. Rey would deal with it later.

The first thing she did once she turned on the ignition was drive farther out of the forest. She knew it was never recommended to drive around naked, but she didn’t have much of a choice. The car would carry her farther away from the pack’s reach if anyone else had gone after her.

When she felt like she had driven far enough, she stopped short of the edge of the forest and pulled herself into the back seat of her car. Her clothes were folded neatly in the back, along with a first aid kit stuffed into the pocket of the back of the driver's seat.

She quickly wrapped her ankle up before she shimmied into her clothes. Everything looked disheveled and there was dirt still all over her, but she hoped no one would look close enough into her car to see anything amiss. A knit cap would hide the tangles that a week and a half of living outdoors had created.

It was a funny sensation to her to realize how much she missed driving. She loved her car, old and broken down as it was; loved the freedom it gave her to go places. 

And she loved how far she was getting away from her cousin and his crazy pack of friends… or, whatever they were to him.

The smoothness of the paved road she snuck out on led to a main road that she followed all the way to the freeway. The signs pointed that she was about 245 miles away from home… a drive she calculated to be about 4 and a half hours. She kept her eyes open for a town to stop in so she could call her friends and tell them she was all right and was coming back. It would give her a sense of security to do this in the parking lot of a store where the wolves would never approach her, though her logic reassured her there was no way they could catch up to her this quickly on foot.

A small local grocery store ended up being that refuge. Exhausted as she was, Rey felt too wired to stop to rest for more than a few minutes. She just wanted to go home. A part of her wanted to go into the store to see if they sold any bottles of coffee or, more than likely, soda and probably for a price that was more than it was worth, as she normally found in the stores of towns as small as this one.

Instead, she reached into the glove compartment for her phone and sighed with relief as she plugged it into the power bank she kept with it. Seeing the charge symbol and knowing she had a signal for a call, she went into her contacts and shakily hit the first name that came to mind. It was the only voice she longed to hear all week.

It wasn’t the smartest idea to call him and not one of her packmates, but Rey had to hear his voice. She urged the other end of the line to pick up.

On the fourth ring, he answered.

“…Rey!?”

She breathed deeply. “Finn.”


	15. Chapter 15

Things did not go back to normal when Rey came back.

Finn wasn’t sure what he expected, actually. She had only been gone for a week and a half, but between the drama in her family and the emotional turmoil the stress of her being gone placed on him, he felt drained. Don’t get him wrong, Finn was happy she was back and safe, but now that that milestone had been reached, he wasn’t sure how to move forward. There was lingering anger that sat in the corners of his mind, wondering what would have happened if she didn’t come home at all.

Though she was expected to be back to work the following Monday, Rey would not be going anywhere else for a while. Her ankle was torn up and from all the running she did on it during her escape, it was looking bad. She was instructed by local doctor Kalonia to rest it in the meantime.

They hadn’t talked about what happened while Rey was gone. It was hard to feign normalcy, but for the sake of her being able to rest first, Finn was willing to try. He talked to her about his week, school, a show he discovered he thought she might like, anything except where she was and what he was doing with Rose.

Rose was improving with her aim and form when shooting, but she still had a long way to go before she was where she wanted to be in skill. Finn was hesitant to tell Rey because Rose was so concerned about what the pack would think if word got out, not that he didn’t trust that Rey would do anything to hurt her friend. It sounded like the pack might treat Rose like a child, someone who wasn’t capable of much, which bothered her though she didn’t think they were doing this deliberately. They were just afraid that she would get hurt.

Finn understood just as well as anyone the feeling of wanting your loved ones to be safe and out of harm’s way. 

He appreciated that Rose and her sister gave him some space now that Rey was home. Perhaps they were given orders to leave the couple alone for now, or until Leia and Luke got to speak with Rey. Finn could tell by their phone conversation that neither of the pack leaders were particularly happy at the moment. There was some relief over Rey’s return, but lingering anger that mirrored his own. 

Yet, despite everything, he missed her.

Rey sat on the couch, streaming shows she wanted to catch up on, since she didn’t need to return to work for a few days. Even in her silence, Finn could tell she wanted him to be with her. Every once in a while, she would glance around the apartment, trying to locate him before she went back to watching.

Longing to be close to her again, Finn settled down next to her with a deep breath and moved his arm so Rey could curl up against him. It was almost like how they were before she left.

Almost.

It felt like there was an invisible wall between them and while the warmth of her skin seeped through his shirt, Finn’s mind felt dull and cold. He wanted things to go back the way they were but something prevented that.

As much as he liked holding her like this, he couldn’t bring himself to do much more than that. His thoughts lingered to the perfume bottle still sitting on the floor of their closet, but it wasn’t the time to bring that up either. He had a specific mood in mind for giving that to her, but it had already come to pass.

Maybe with a little time this part of their relationship would repair itself.

He felt the strain more than ever when Rey leaned in to kiss him sweetly on the lips and he didn’t kiss back. Pulling back slightly, he saw the look of hurt in her eyes for a moment before she leaned her head back against his shoulder, going back to watch the show.

A knock on the door broke the tension between them, but brought its own anxiety along with it.

With a sigh, Rey pulled away to allow Finn to get up and answer. She looked longingly at him one more time before he opened the door to her father and aunt.

“How are things here?” Luke greeted.

Finn shrugged, knowing it wasn’t the most confident of answers. “As good as it can be, considering things. Do you need me to leave?”

He wasn’t sure if he’d be welcome in this conversation. The pack had allowed him into their meetings, but he wasn’t one of them and what Rey ran off and did was serious. She might not even want him there to save face.

Luke looked sympathetic in his uncertainty. “Only if you feel comfortable. We’re,” he glanced at Leia, who met his gaze, “not going to be going easy on her.”

“I think he means there might be shouting,” Leia clarified. “Rey’s… never been one to control her emotions well.”

“I wonder who she gets that from,” Luke asked, looking pointedly at his sister.

Leia didn’t take the accusation lightly. “Well, if _someone_ actually had been a father to her, maybe she’d take more after him.”

“Uh,” Finn interrupted. “I’ll hang out here for a little bit, but don’t be surprised if I decide to go take a walk.” He hinted that he didn’t want to stick around to watch old family feuds resurface. Rey’s childhood was touchy, and despite his anger towards her right now, he’d always take her side on this. 

The siblings nodded. “We don’t mind,” said Leia. “We know how stressful the last few months have been for you.”

They didn’t know half of it, he thought, but he didn’t need to go into detail. How does someone sum up months of nightmares, looking over shoulders in fear at the slightest noise, pacing around a room hoping for someone to come back? Would they even understand?

He stood to the side to let them into the apartment and they halted just as they stepped in, looking at Rey on the couch who was trying to make herself seem as small as possible. They sighed at the sight of her.

“You’re not getting out of this, Rey,” Luke said, firmly.

Resigned, she uncurled herself and sat up straight, waiting for her family to sit down. Finn watched for a moment as Luke and Leia made themselves comfortable, then sat himself down at the kitchen table.

Leia began. “What you did was very reckless, Rey. You had everyone worried.”

Finn half-expected Rey to argue that moment, so he was shocked to see her only nod her head and stay quiet. It seemed like she was just going to sit down and take her punishment without a fight.

“We haven’t decided the full extent of your punishment,” added Luke. “You won’t be allowed out in your other form for a long time, though.”

That snapped her attention. “For how long?” she whined.

“Ten months, unless we see the extent of the damage done.” Leia was firm in her sentencing. 

“But I brought back lots of information for you!” Rey pleaded. “Surely that is something to consider-"

“This isn’t a negotiation, Rey,” Leia warned. “We’ll take the information you got, but what you did made us worried sick. We were trying to decide if we should risk sending someone after you.”

In a huff, Rey forced herself to be silent, crossing her arms and looking displeased.

“What were we supposed to do if you got hurt? And what about Finn?” Leia looked over at him, which made him begin to feel uncomfortable. “What was he supposed to do? Just wait for you?”

Well, that was basically what he did. He wasn’t a werewolf; what else could he have done? He was starting to understand what Rose meant by not really being part of the pack…

He decided he didn’t need to be here, especially because he was certain the three were about to erupt into shouts at any moment.

Standing up, he quietly grabbed his sweater and keys and walked out the door.

* * *

Rey wished she could hide how hurt her feelings were when Finn quietly exited out the door. She realized the moment she arrived back home that something was amiss, and it had everything to do with her leaving to spy on the feral pack. No, she wasn’t expecting that either would ignore what would happen, but she didn’t expect how cold he was towards her either. She wondered if it had to do with her leaving without telling him; if he did the same to her, she wouldn’t take that very well.

For the moment though, she needed to focus on her family.

“You didn’t expect that he would just wait around for you, right?” Luke asked as his eyes darted to the door. “Finn was worried sick, and you didn’t even tell him what you were doing!”

She wondered what it was like to be alone in the apartment, waiting for her to come back. Lonely, she assumed. Nerve-wrecking when he realized where she was. After this and whatever punishment she got, she’d have to apologize.

“I’ll figure out how to make it up to him,” she vowed. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.” She pushed back against the couch pillow she was leaning against. “I wish I was just a human.” As much as she enjoyed being in her wolf-skin on warm summer nights, spending time with the feral pack made her rethink everything. Being a human was far more convenient and less complicated. If it wasn’t for her other form, she and Finn wouldn’t have the complications in their relationship. 

“But you _aren’t,”_ Leia was sympathetic. “That’s the reality, and it doesn’t change that you _did_ hurt him.”

Rey’s stomach sank where she sat, making her feel ill. Finn didn’t even stick around to hear her whole story, and he looked so tired since she got back. If she didn’t have her father and aunt here, she would have followed him out to speak to him.

Instead, she tried to change the subject. After all, she spent a week outdoors risking her own life for the sake of her pack.

“There’s something I need to tell you though,” she sighed and began to explain what the werewolves were planning to do to the nearest town.

Luke and Leia stared at her in disbelief. “They’d have to be crazy to think they could run an entire town out,” Leia exclaimed.

“Err… yeah,” began Rey. “I’m pretty sure that’s the point.”

“Did they say when?” Luke asked urgently.

She shook her head. “No, they were waiting for the right moment.”

The thought troubled her family. “Not sure what the right moment would be,” said Leia. “But this means we need to keep a closer eye on them. They aren't just looking for solitude like we thought.”

If she had the guts to, Rey might have said something along the lines of, “I told you so,” but she wasn’t dumb enough. That would be a one-way ticket to a worse punishment. 

Luke looked at his sister with concern. “Think we should send Vi out there after all?”

Sighing, Leia looked resigned. “It sounds like we might have to.”

Rey tried to tell them everything she found out, including about the old wolf in the forest, dependent on the feral pack for his own survival.

Her father took a deep breath. “That sounds like Snoke.”

“You know him?” 

He shrugged. “Maybe, if it’s the person I’m thinking of. He was part of this pack decades ago… until Leia defeated him in an Alpha’s Dance. He was sympathetic to our father, and so, he left. We hadn’t heard from him since.”

“He was old then,” said Leia. “That would mean he’s _ancient_ now.”

“Is there a possibility he convinced Ben to his side to get revenge on you?”

The siblings looked at one another horrified until Rey cleared her throat.

“I don’t see how,” she told them. “Snoke couldn’t be online out in the woods and I’m not under the impression he leaves. If Ben was targeted specifically, it would have been by Hux. He changes back and forth to bring new pack members in.” Though that made her think of an alternative. “Unless Snoke told Hux to target Ben.” There was always that possibility.

Her aunt stood up and looked towards the door. “I’m going to contact a few people,” she said. “Get more information. If this is urgent, we might have to ask other nearby packs to help us.”

Finn still had not returned yet, and Rey’s hopes fell. There was a lot she needed to tell him and she thought if he had stayed, she could get it out of the way along with her aunt and father. Maybe he was getting dinner. If not, maybe she should call for delivery, though she wasn’t sure how that would fix anything.

Her family hugged her before they left the apartment quietly and Rey found herself alone, waiting for Finn to come back. 

_I probably deserve this,_ she thought. _I made him wait for me._


	16. Chapter 16

He realized it was time to move on with her lessons when she was hitting still targets just fine. The more the rumors spread through the pack about a confrontation with the feral pack, the more anxious Rose became.

She didn’t want to wait around idly, no, if there was a fight, she wanted to help. Both of them knew her family would not be happy – then again, Finn thought, his mothers wouldn’t be happy either if they knew what he was doing – with her putting herself in danger, but Rose had made up her mind and she wanted to protect her pack if she could.

“I heard Phasma’s huge,” she said. “Big silver wolf. Always been feral.”

Finn shrugged as he watched her aim for the target, pulling the trigger. Dead center.

“I don’t really know anything about the feral pack,” he admitted. “I’ve heard a few things about them, but besides Kylo, I’ve never met another.”

Rose looked a little surprised. “Rey hasn’t told you anything?”

“We haven’t talked about it yet. Figured she needed some normalcy for a bit.”

Wanting to give Rey space while she talked with her family, he hadn’t gone home yet. Maybe when he got back, they would be gone and then they’d have a chance to speak about all this. Being at the shooting range gave him a distraction and the more he was around it, the less likely he was to get jumpy at the sound of a gunshot again.

“You want to try one of the moving targets?” he asked.

Beaming, Rose smiled widely. “Sure.”

While he didn’t expect her to hit a moving target the first time, it wasn’t a bad idea to start her on them as a challenge. She hadn’t quite mastered still targets yet either.

They moved over to another station where the range set up their moving targets. Easily replaceable, the simple circular targets rotated in a pattern in different spots around the area. Once someone figured out the pattern, it could become easy to hit them all with the right timing and aim.

“Whatever you don’t hit-" and he assumed there would be quite a few untouched targets, “-I’ll try them.”

Nodding, she moved her stuff over a few rows and waited for him to join her. 

Once she saw he was close enough, Rose drew her handgun and aimed carefully at the first moving target. She shot, then missed by a long way, cursing under her breath.

“Okay, this is harder than it looks.”

“It always is the first time,” he laughed, then he pointed at the next target to come up. “After that, everyone figures out it’s all about timing and aim. You can’t just shoot at it without thinking first, even if it’s just for a few moments. Give it another try.”

Rose watched as another target loaded up in front of her. She waited a moment, watching it, then gently tugged at the trigger.

This time, she skimmed the side of the target, just as it began to move out of the way.

“See? You’re already starting to get it,” Finn praised.

She tried again, the next shot hitting the right corner of the bullseye. Grinning, Rose turned to look at him. “I’ll be a pro in no time.”

Finn chuckled again. “Soon, you’ll be giving me lessons.”

“All right, Mister Military Man,” she reminded him in a drone. “That’ll be the day.”

Still, when he watched her try to finish all the other targets, he noticed how distracted Rose really was, like part of her mind was somewhere else, even as she focused on aiming. He wondered if she was imagining a wolf in their places, running and growling as they poised to attack. Finn didn’t know how close Rose had been to Ben Solo – he got the feeling they really didn’t know each other all that well – but he understood it would be hard to kill someone that had once been part of your extended family.

A fight between the packs was probably coming, and though Finn was on the fence about what he should do, he knew that even if she couldn’t Change herself, Rose would probably put herself right in the middle of things. The pack had a strange concept about family loyalty and it seemed this caused some of them to think illogically. He imagined Rose trying to fight off a wolf the size of Kylo and understood why she was so insistent about learning to shoot.

And really, when he thought about it, Finn wanted to be right beside her. It wasn’t just his commitment to Rey and her family that made him want to help, it was a feeling of responsibility to protect other humans from Kylo so they would never know the pain from his bite and the fear he brought with him.

* * *

When he finally returned home after finding every detour to be a distraction, Luke and Leia were already gone. 

Wondering if Rey’s punishment had been increased since he left, or what she told them about the pack, he hesitated in the door frame while thinking about what to do when he saw her. Finn was finally becoming a little more curious about her time away himself, since Rose’s questions made him realize how little he really knew about the other werewolves. If he wanted to be of any help, he needed to know what Rey’s pack was facing.

Yet the longer he was involved, the more tired he grew. He wasn’t a wolf, and every time Rey’s family included him, they reminded him of that. Even when he tried to stay out of their business, he got involved too because his girlfriend's name came up with nearly every incident or dramatic occasion.

He would never deny that he loved Rey, faults and all, but the last few weeks were tipping the scale for him and he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.

Opening the door quietly, he looked around for signs of Rey, only to find she wasn’t in the main room of the apartment. Moving into the bedroom, he found her lying under the blankets on their bed, huddled like she was cold and trying to cocoon herself to hold the heat in.

“Rey?” he called out. “Are you okay?”

She shuffled around in the blankets and allowed her head to peek through. He noticed her eyes were slightly pink, like she had been crying.

“You’re back,” she said, wistfully.

“Your dad and aunt weren’t too hard on you, were they?” he joked, though he was a little more than pleased that Rey didn’t get away with everything. He worried being the daughter of the second-in-command allowed her too many liberties.

Shaking her head, she sighed, “Not any more than I expected. I just thought…”

“Hmm?”

“Well, I thought the pack would be happier for what I did. What I brought back.”

Pausing for a moment, Finn tried to decide if now was the right time to bring this up. Then, he made up his mind. “And what did you bring back?”

This time, she told him everything.

Listening, he frowned when she got to the parts about the danger she put herself in. Kylo’s attitude worried him, as he seemed far more terrifying in his pack than that night at the cabin. Quiet rage frightened Finn more than outward aggression. It was obvious there was a plan in place.

He imagined what her cousin might have done to her if Phasma had succeeded in hurting her more than just on the ankle, if the other wolf hadn’t killed her first. As much as he didn’t want to turn this conversation into another talking-down, Finn’s own emotions overcame him.

“When you didn’t come back home, I was scared something bad happened to you,” he told her. “If Poe hadn’t said anything… what if something did happen?”

Finn hadn’t spoken to Poe since that night and he wasn’t sure if Rey tried to contact him, being under house arrest and all. Her aunt made it clear that she didn’t want her to talk to any of the three she conspired with for a while, at least until Leia and Luke got to speak with her.

She frowned and shuffled under the blankets again. “I was fine,” she insisted.

"I guess I should word this differently," he tried again. "What I'm really asking is _why_ you didn't tell me?"

Suddenly, Rey looked very small in the bed. If she was a wolf right now, she would probably be lying on it with her ears pinned back, trying to submit to him to avoid conflict. But he wasn't a wolf, he reminded himself.

"I thought you would try to stop me," she answered honestly. It wasn't a wild response like he thought she might give. Finn probably would have tried or told her family what she was planning. "It was stupid, I know, but I felt like I needed to. My family and my mate are in danger."

Family loyalty was indeed a strong concept in the werewolves and Finn wondered if he would ever understand that. They were quick to get into fights and he knew Rey would kill for him. Perhaps his time in the military changed his outlook. After being in an actual war zone, he couldn't see another reason to put your life into that kind of risk anymore. 

Rey continued, "I should have told you." She heaved a heavy breath. "I'm so sorry."

And she genuinely did. Her eyes didn’t lie here.

With a sigh, Finn sat properly on the bed, leaning back against a pillow. He waited while Rey sat up to be near him. 

“I can’t say I forgive you for this,” he told her. “You put me in a really rough spot with your family.”

Her head snapped around to stare at him. “They weren’t mean to you, were they?” She said this with disbelief.

“No, the opposite, actually. They tried to include me as much as they could but the thing is Rey, I’m not a werewolf. It’s obvious I’m not one of them and Rose has told me you guys leave her out too. Her own family!”

“You and Rose are getting close.” She smiled, which wasn’t the reaction he was expecting. 

He scratched his ear lightly as he thought. “Well, I guess we can cross jealousy off the list of possible bad qualities.”

She glared at him. “Rose is one of us,” she threw back at him. “No, she can’t Change, but that doesn’t mean she’s not part of my family. She would never betray me like that, so leave her out of it. Unless you wanted her to…?”

“No,” he answered quickly. “Not at all. And yeah, right, we should leave her out of this.”

“Then what is this all about Finn?” Rey finally got around to the point.

Huffing, Finn replied, “None of this is normal.”

Rey threw up her hands. “You’re dating a _werewolf,_ Finn. That’s not normal for most humans.” She turned to stare at him. “No, usually these kinds of relationships don’t go through what we have, but _normal_ isn’t exactly how I would describe any relationship like ours.” Then she took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down. “When I first told you about what I was, I gave you every opportunity to back out. You didn’t, and we made promises to each other that this wouldn’t destroy us. I meant every word. Every day I was out there, I kept thinking about you and how I couldn’t wait to get back to you.”

After a pause, she added, “This isn’t one of those cute YA novels. This is real.”

Not having a response to that, Finn decided not to speak anymore. He felt his face grow red and his hands begin to shake. If he opened his mouth, he would probably shout, and he wasn’t sure if his anger was over one thing or just something that accumulated over the last few months.

Instead of responding, he rolled over on his side and pulled the blanket over him. Rey remained silent and waited for him to speak again.

Finn wasn’t sure how long he laid there, pretending to have fallen asleep, when he felt her shuffle around on the bed and hobble to the other side of the room. Turning off the lights, she closed the door quietly.

She didn’t return to bed that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely getting to the end of this fic now! I've been trying to get these chapters out as quickly as possible, but job interviews have been throwing me a little off schedule. I figure it's a safe bet to say a new chapter will come out every two weeks or so.


	17. Chapter 17

It was after she returned to work that Rey visited out her friends for the first time. Normalcy hadn’t been reached yet, not with Finn still in a mood. She sought his attention regularly, and though he was easing back into his old self, there was still hesitance and contempt in his actions.

What worried her now was how attached to Finn she was. There were nights he didn’t return her touches or even come to bed; sometimes he opted to sleep next to her but as far away from her as possible without falling off. She’d never felt more alone. Once, she thought the bond between a wolf and her mate was one of the most romantic concepts she’d ever heard about, the reality behind it was, at least in their situation, toeing the line of misery. Her heart tugged at her chest each time she thought about Finn and when he rejected her, it wasn’t just emotional pain anymore. She felt her stomach bubble with anxiety as the burning sensation in her chest flared and ran a path down her spine.

If it weren’t for the part about hating humans, she might have agreed with the feral pack about their concerns of interspecies relationships. Finn might be hurting, but he would never feel what Rey did the longer he stayed with her. If it weren’t for the problem of the limited amount of potential mates, another wolf would probably be preferable. 

She wondered if Finn had contacted Poe again since she returned. It sounded like Finn had been a little angry with his friend too after he was the one to confess where she went. If he had, did he tell Poe that he was having issues with her? She’d hope he’d keep quiet about it for now while they were working things out.

Sometimes, she still thought of the tiny condo as Finn’s, since this was the one he and Poe once shared. Poe hadn’t changed it much since his roommate moved out either. 

“I’m glad we’re talking, Rey,” he greeted her.

Rey reached over to hug her old friend. “It’s good to see you, Poe.” Seeing Paige peek her head out the door, Rey also held her arms out to embrace her other friend.

Rose was inside too and Rey walked in to greet her. “Thanks for being a friend to Finn,” she said.

“He’s a nice guy,” Rose told her. “A good teacher, too.”

“Teacher?” Rey was confused, and by the look on their faces, so were Paige and Poe.

“Oh… um…” Rose looked like she accidentally brought something up she’d rather not talk about. “Finn’s been teaching me how to shoot.”

Paige gasped. “Like a _gun?”_

Her sister nodded. “It’s been something I’ve been wanting to try for a while.”

Sighing, Paige looked concerned. “You know how our family feels about guns.”

“I’m not bringing one into the house,” Rose promised. “I just want to know how to use one.”

Though she had an idea of why Rose wanted to know how to use a gun, Rey's concern automatically switched to Finn. He hadn’t gone shooting once since they were together, admitting that the sound of gunshots brought up too many painful memories.

“Has Finn been okay with this?” she asked carefully.

Looking up nervously, Rose asked, “Is something wrong? When I brought it up, Finn seemed happy to give me lessons.”

“Finn’s mental health took a turn for the worst when he got back from overseas,” Rey told her. “His friend died in front of him. He hadn’t been able to watch certain movies for a while, even.”

Eyes widening, Rose looked nervous. “H-he didn’t say anything about that.” Looking around the room, it was easy to tell this revelation horrified her. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have asked. He seemed fine at the shooting range.”

“Well…” Rey wasn’t sure what more to say. “If you’re sure…”

She’d try to talk to Finn later, if he let her, just to make sure the lessons weren’t brining up anything bad. If it wasn’t bothering him, she wouldn’t make a fuss about it, but she remembered the nights he mumbled in his sleep and woke up frightened.

Poe shut the door of his apartment and offered to get Rey coffee, which she accepted gratefully. He could make the most basic of coffee taste amazing and often talked about how he observed different brewing and preparation styles in his travels for his job. She even suggested if he wanted a change of careers to open his own coffee shop, though the area’s market was probably saturated with them. 

They all sat around the small round table in his kitchen area, reminding Rey of happier times when life wasn’t so complicated. 

“I’ve heard a bit of what’s been going on since I’ve been gone,” Rey began. “But I wanted to hear from you guys too.”

Nodding, Poe responded, “I suppose you’ve heard all about the Alpha’s Dance?”

“Somewhat,” said Rey. Her aunt and father told her they were planning to step down, but they didn’t want her taking part either due to her punishment. “Know of anyone interested in taking part?”

“Well…” Paige said, looking at Poe like she was asking for permission to speak.

“I should probably say it,” Poe sighed. 

Rose shuffled in her seat and looked at her sister curiously. Whatever it was, Paige hadn’t said anything to her either.

Rey thought she already knew.

“You’re going to fight,” she guessed. “Both of you?”

“I’m not,” said Paige. “Just Poe.”

“But I asked her to be my beta leader if I become the alpha.”

There was a sudden tension in the room, though only coming from the two sisters sitting next to each other.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rose whispered.

Paige answered, “Because I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to do. Poe and I talked about this a few days ago, and we realize we need strong leadership once Luke and Leia step down.”

“You both will make great leaders,” Rey’s voice suddenly felt hoarse. Earlier, she thought this wouldn't bother her, but she realized that she always thought she would get a chance to fight in an Alpha’s Dance when the next one happened. Her pack mates used to think this as well, and told her how she and her cousin were the likely candidates for the next generation of leaders. Now that she was forbidden from taking part, as per her punishment for disobeying orders, she forfeit this chance.

Maybe it was time for people outside of her family to have a chance. Her family failed to stop threats as they arose and Kylo’s pride made him feel above humans and the other werewolves. Look where that had gotten them.

Poe looked at her with pity. “We would have asked if you were planning to fight, but we figured…”

“No,” Rey cut him off. “You were right. Don’t worry about it.” She forced a smile. “I’ll be cheering for you.”

Her friends mirrored her smile, but it looked a little forced too. Rose was the only one not hiding her worry, and she stared at her sister with dark eyes.

“Can I talk with you outside?” she asked Paige.

They both stood up and left the apartment, shutting the door behind them. Soon, Rey and Poe heard arguing.

He winced. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“I hope they’re okay.” Rey didn’t feel comfortable knowing she might have caused a fight between them.

Standing up, Poe poured himself another cup of coffee, taking a deep breath before he leaned against the counter. “I’m surprised you didn’t bring Finn along,” he commented.

“Well, I wanted to just talk with you myself. Don’t want to stress him out more with pack stuff, you know?”

Biting his lower lip, Poe nodded and remained silent for a moment, studying her. He continued to sip at his coffee as he regarded her. Rey didn’t enjoy the feeling of being observed like one of Paige’s test subjects, but she waited for Poe to speak again, hoping he would change the subject.

“You two are having problems, huh?” he guessed. When Rey looked at him with disbelief, he added, “Remember, I babysat you for years. You still have this look in your eyes when something’s wrong.”

She sighed, defeated. “He’s having second thoughts, I think, and I want to work things out with him but I also don’t want to make him stay if he’s unhappy.”

Poe ran his hand through his hair. In the background, Paige and Rose were still talking. 

“It’s been harder for you than it should have been,” he admitted. “If it weren’t for Ben-"

They hadn’t spoken about her cousin much, for both of them, it still hurt.

“There’s…” she began. “He’s a terrible person.”

“I know,” Poe whispered. “It’s never been more obvious.”

The sisters returned, quiet and avoiding eye contact with everyone, including each other. Paige tried to feign a smile, but Rose was red in the face.

“All right?” Poe asked them.

“I think we’re going to be leaving,” Paige said, looking at Rose with concern. “There're some things we need to talk about.”

They went around the table and hugged their friends before they silently left the apartment again. 

Rey placed her head in her hands. “Nothing’s going the way I thought,” she groaned. 

Placing his own hand against his forehead, Poe looked equally worried. “I hope I haven’t started something between those two…” 

The pair of old friends stared at each other almost hopelessly. What could they say to one another when the world around them seemed to be collapsing?

* * *

Finn was enjoying the quiet of his day off from work, using the time to do chores around the apartment when his phone rang.

He frowned when he saw Poe’s name across the screen. They hadn’t talked much since he fessed up to Rey’s disappearance, but Finn wasn’t very angry with him, honestly. Their lack of contact had more to do with Finn’s overall mood.

Taking a moment to decide if he should answer, Finn went ahead and swiped his index finger to the left to unlock his phone.

“Poe? What’s up?”

“Hey,” Poe sounded urgent. “Is Rey there?”

Automatically, Finn’s heart began to race as he feared the worst. His voice quivered. “N-no… Can you not reach her?”

Finn may have given away his nerves because Poe suddenly blurted out, “No. Not that! I wanted to talk to you when you were alone.”

Holding his face away from his phone, Finn let out the breath he was holding in case the speakers might have caught it. Then, he held the phone back up to his ear. “Oh, okay,” he replied. 

“Has everything been okay between you two?” Poe went straight to the point. “Rey seemed… down when she was over here.”

Running his free hand against his opposite sleeve, Finn moved to sit on the couch. “We kinda got in a fight a few days ago and haven’t made up,” he confessed. 

The other line was quiet for a moment. “That sounds serious,” Poe finally commented.

“Yeah,” said Finn. “I think I overreacted just a little. A lot of it was me be whiny and not wanting to fight fair.” He was embarrassed to admit it, but Rey leaving without telling him or trusting him had really hurt and he had wanted her to feel what she made him feel too, though he realized later how wrong it was of him to want that. She had just been thinking about her family and she wanted to protect him too.

Then, Poe popped the question that had also been on his mind. “So why not just apologize? I’m sure she’ll forgive you for that.”

“I know but…” Finn heaved a sigh. “I guess I’m worried it might bring up more bad feelings.” Another thought came to him. “Poe? What would happen to Rey if we broke up? I don’t fully understand the werewolf bond thing.”

It sounded like he was gritting his teeth on the other line. “I hope you’re not suggesting what I think,” he said. “You’re still in the early bond stages. Rey would probably be all right if you two split. _Probably._ She might fall into depression for a while. Is this something you’re thinking about?”

Finn wasn’t sure the best way to answer. “Maybe? I don’t really know. Something’s not working right now and with all the stuff going on with her family, I’m not feeling like I can handle all this. Her being grounded from all the pack stuff might help, but then there are times where I really just want a break.”

There was more awkward silence from Poe until he found something to respond with. “Well, maybe talk to Rey first and see what happens? You two seem like such a good pair and I’d hate to see that go south. A lot of people would.”

“I’ll try,” Finn answered honestly. 

“And if you need someone to talk to, I’m always happy to lend an ear for you. Rose might too.”

"Thanks Poe. I’m going to go.”

“Anytime, buddy.”

Ending the call, Finn sunk back against the couch pillows, tilting his head back and staring at the ceiling as he tried to figure out what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uploaded this chapter into my drafts a few days ago, but since I was publishing a few Kinktober fics at the same time, I was waiting on publishing it. Personally, I have a one fic per day rule so I don't overload myself.


	18. Chapter 18

It didn’t take long for the alpha and the beta to call another pack meeting. There wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind what it was about. Vi Moradi arrived back the night before and word spread around quickly.

To Rey’s surprise, Finn agreed to attend, and she felt hope light in her heart that whatever he was working through, he was finally getting past it. He was talkative and almost like his usual self, though she noticed that her friends kept a close eye on him during the meeting. It was obvious he was hiding something because he looked exhausted and she knew he hadn’t been sleeping well. He tossed and turned all night until he gave up on sleeping and went to the main room to find something else to occupy his time.

She allowed herself to brush up against him where they sat on the floor of her aunt’s living room and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t move away. Touch was something she missed from him and the contact of warmth and skin felt almost electric to her. It was hard to keep herself from flinging herself into his lap right there.

Luckily for her, her aunt’s clear voice distracted her enough to keep her mind on something else.

“I’m sure you all have figured out why you were called here,” she began.

From the chair he was sitting in, Lando blurted out, “So it’s happening, then?”

Leia sighed. “Looks like it.” She turned to the woman next to her. “Vi?”

The woman made her report short. “The feral pack is moving closer to the nearest town. They send scouts out each night to map the area.”

“Anyone see them?” Rey asked, she couldn’t help herself.

Vi shook her head. “Not that I know of. One person reported coyotes, but I saw those in town too. It’s only a matter of time before they try something.”

Poe spoke up next. “It still seems odd to me they would even think this could work.”

“That’s kind of the problem,” Leia added. “They aren’t thinking logically.”

“They think if they kill enough humans, they’ll scare them off,” Rey answered. “Not sure what their plan is when the humans return with bigger guns.”

“So if we do nothing…” Rose raised the question with hope.

Luke jumped into the conversation with a shake of his head. “We risk exposing all of us. Not just the feral pack. It would be better if we put a stop to them before they did any damage to the town.”

Not blaming Rose for not wanting a fight, Rey looked at her with sympathy. It was never easy to sit around and watch your family put themselves in danger, which is why she thought Rose might have ideas of her own as she thought back to the shooting training that she had Finn help her with.

“I hate to ask this of all of you,” Leia said, “but we need as many abled-bodied wolves to help fight them off. Some wolves from other nearby packs have agreed to help us and they are on their way.”

“No one with young children or if you are the sole provider of your family,” Luke ordered. “And no minors either. This is dangerous, but it has to be done.”

Immediately, a few hands were raised in the room, including Poe and Rose and Paige’s parents. Rey felt her hand rise up, wondering if her family would allow her to return to the feral pack. She was one of the few people that really knew how they operated though; they needed her.

She felt disappointed when Finn didn’t do the same, but she wondered if he didn’t think they were asking him to help since they specifically called for wolves. 

When her father looked at her and only nodded sadly, she took that as a sign that he was allowing her to go.

This time, she vowed to herself, she would see that her cousin and his pack harmed no one again.

* * *

Paige hated when her sister got like this. Adult temper tantrums were bad enough, but in public it was an embarrassment. Rose had never figured out the best way to handle her own emotions, and when she didn’t get her way, she was prone to these outbursts.

Her family moved this outside the moment they saw her grow red in the face.

“For the last time, Rose,” their father insisted, “you can’t go.”

Stamping her foot, she shouted, “Why do you all have to go then?”

“These are dangerous times,” answered their mother. “We have to protect our own.”

“They’re my people too!” Rose shouted.

Their father was almost as red as his daughter. “The reality is, you can’t Change and you can’t fight other wolves as a human. It’s better if you stay home.”

And yet, Rose would not relent. “I’m an adult. You can’t stop me. If Paige goes, so do I.”

“You’re not acting like an adult.”

This had been something the whole family had been trying to work with Rose on. At the age of 25, she was struggling to be independent of her family, particularly her sister. Paige recalled how annoyed she had been when her baby sister first started toddling around, following her everywhere like she was her shadow. Eventually, she got used to Rose being wherever she was, but as time went on, this became a problem. She didn’t adapt well in school, becoming anxious in the early years and never figured out how to make friends later. Sometimes, the school even had to call home because of Rose’s behavior. When she didn’t get her way, she would have outbursts of anger, calling the other kids names or hurting their feelings. She calmed down a bit in middle school, but always being around Paige outside of school made her sister’s friends frustrated too.

Finding by her teenage years that she couldn’t Change didn’t help matters either. She found friends in the pack, but always felt left out when they went off together on full moon nights. It created its own isolation that Paige was all too aware of. Rose felt like she wasn’t a wolf, but she wasn’t quite human either. There were others like her and many reported this perception of themselves.

But still, despite all this, they couldn’t allow her to put herself in harm’s way. Not only would she be in danger, she might get someone else hurt by sticking around.

“Rose,” Paige said firmly, hoping her input would be what was needed to end this. “Stay home.”

Her sister’s lower lip trembled like she was about to burst into tears. Paige wouldn’t be surprised, honestly.

“So I stay home and wait around for my family to maybe come back?” Rose was crying now. “You know how hard it is for me to sit around and wonder if my parents and my sister will come back alive? I get that I’m useless, but I’d rather be with you than not know where you are!”

Paige looked guilty at her parents and noticed they looked like they had just as remorse about this as her. Their mother and father stared at each other for a moment, like they were communicating silently, then, their mother spoke up.

“I’ll stay,” she agreed.

Lip still trembling, Rose hugged her mother and turned her head to look at her sister pointedly. Feeling defeated, Paige decided to let the argument go if this was truly a compromise. Her father must have thought the same, because he said nothing more.

She thought she saw Finn glance outside the window of the Organa house for a moment, but when she turned her head, he had ducked away.

* * *

Finn realized when he and Rey got home that night that enough was enough. The more time they spent angry with each other was less time they could spend together before the pack was leaving to go fight. And if Finn were honest with himself, he had been kind of ridiculous lately.

He hoped if he apologized it wasn’t too late. A lot was on his mind as it was and he worried the stress on Rey might make the damage between them too much to repair.

Rey was quiet on the drive back and he wondered what she was thinking about. He’d never realized how secretive she could be until she revealed this other part of her life. Perhaps that had been part of his own insecurity lately. Sometimes he wondered how much he really knew her after all.

When they arrived back at the apartment, the first thing he did was sit down on the couch and watch her quietly to gauge he mood. She didn’t seem angry or upset, though maybe pensive. Her eyes seemed distant, like she was lost in thought.

“Rey?”

Looking up at him too warily for his comfort, she hummed to let him know she was listening.

Already, he felt nervous again and hoped for the best as he patted the spot on the couch next to him. She understood what he was asking and sat down, looking him right in the eyes and waiting for him to speak.

Taking a deep sigh, Finn tried to find the right place to start. “I think I owe you an apology.”

The look on her face made him feel like he was stating the obvious.

Running his hand against the back of his neck, he felt like he was fumbling. “Okay, I really need to apologize.” 

Then, he paused and thought for a moment until something came to him. He took another deep breath.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” he began. It seemed like a good place to start. “I know words aren’t going to make things right.” He realized how hard it was to avoid using but in his sentences, but every good apology usually didn’t include that word because of its defensive implication. “I want you to know I regret everything I said to you and how I’ve behaved since.” 

Reaching across the couch, Finn placed his hand over hers. To his relief, she did not pull away.

“I love you, and I’m not sure how I’m going to make it up to you, but I’ll try. You mean the world to me, Rey.”

She gave him a quiet smile, though she still seemed a little unsure of him. “Thank you Finn,” she said. “I just have questions.”

“Anything,” he breathed.

Pausing, Rey looked like she was figuring out if she should continue the conversation. “I’m not sure if I understand _why_ you were so upset… I guess I get that you were hurt because I left without telling you, but all that other stuff…”

Finn thought she might bring that up. Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely sure why himself, but a little self-reflection was putting him on the path to what might be what was bothering him.

He swallowed. “I guess…” he tried, “I’ve been asking over and over _‘Why us?’”_

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I guess between your cousin attacking us and murdering your uncle and now this fighting stuff, everyone’s been commenting about what rough luck we’ve had. None of this is normal, even for a relationship like ours, and I feel like the world is against us or something. Why couldn’t it have happened to someone else?”

Rey nodded like she understood this sentiment. 

“And then I realized, when we really get down to it, I really don’t know what it’s like to be a werewolf and I never will,” he continued. The words were freely rolling off his tongue now. “When you first told me what you were, I thought it was like some fantastic story out of a book and couldn’t believe that you would want me to be your mate. I didn’t fully understand what the bonding process was like for you and how serious it was. You just seemed so _unconcerned_ about our future as a couple and it almost felt too unreal to me. You weren’t concerned where I was or who I was with, you just knew somehow that I would come back to you every night.”

“That’s why you tried to use Rose to make me jealous,” Rey guessed.

Shaking his head, he admitted, “It was wrong of me to do that. She’s a real friend to you. To both of us.”

“I hurt you too by leaving,” Rey added. “I knew when I got back that I would have repercussions to face, but I didn’t realize how bad it would be between us. That’s probably a worse punishment than what my aunt and father could give me. In fact,” Finn could tell she wasn’t happy with herself either, “I think they were angrier with how I left you in the dark.”

“When you didn’t come home that night, I thought something happened to you,” said Finn. “Then I waited around every day wondering if you would come back alive. It made me a nervous wreck. I couldn’t sleep, I was barely eating… I might not be a werewolf, but I still feel a strong attachment to you. Love can make humans hurt too.”

She brushed her other hand against his cheek and he leaned into it. “I know.”

“Maybe the problem is we still don’t really understand each other,” he said, sadly. “And I’m going to bring up some of my problems with my doctor the next time I have an appointment. It might be time to try a different medication because the nightmares are coming back. I also hope next time, you won’t hide anything from me?”

“I promise.”

Finn decided it was time to take the leap and braced himself. “And you won’t fight me when I tell you I’m going with you to face the feral pack. I can’t sit here and wait again.”

Her hand began to tremble against his skin. “I-" She was trying to control herself. “I want to let you but… How can you protect yourself? If Kylo catches your scent, I know he’ll hunt you.”

He already had an answer for her. “I know that and I have a plan.” 

Tugging on her hand to have her get up with him, he led her to the bedroom closet where their safe was. Opening it, he showed her the new contents.

Furrowing her brow with recognition, she asked, “Is that..?”

“Your grandfather’s,” Finn confirmed. “Your father gave this to me when you were gone. I think he wants me to fight with you.”

“Silver bullets of a hunter,” she breathed. “Yes, I think that’s what he wanted.”

“I’m going to stay out of harm’s way,” Finn promised her. “And when this is over, we’ll come back and try again.”

Rey looked lost in thought again, though this time a little more optimistic. Surprising him, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, pushing her face into the crook of his neck.

This time, Finn didn’t pull away, and he happily returned the affection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to roll these last chapters out quickly. Some need major edits though, and that might make those chapters take longer to rewrite and edit.


	19. Chapter 19

“Okay, so what do I need to know about pack fights?”

Finn sat at the dining room table in Leia’s home with her, Luke, and Rey sitting alongside of him, maps and notepads littering the cherry wood top. They had spent the last hour looking over terrain details and nearby civilian dwellings to get a better understanding of the natural environment. When it came to battles, Finn knew that nothing should be overlooked.

“It’s really just tooth and claw,” Luke answered his question. “When two wolves fight to the death, the strongest and the craftiest survive.”

Leia added, “A smart wolf squares up their enemy before they pick a fight. You might see two wolves encounter each other but not engage.”

“And that’s not considered cowardice?” Finn asked.

“Better to be smart and fight someone else than get killed.” Leia shrugged. “Real wolves do the same.”

Rey stood up to go back into the kitchen to pour another cup of coffee into her mug. Finn could tell she was lost in thought again.

Returning to the table, she stirred her drink absent mindedly. “You’ll be away from the forest floor,” she commented. “So unless there’s an emergency, you shouldn’t have to worry about being surrounded by the other pack.”

“Which reminds me of something else I’ve been thinking about,” said Finn. “I know what Rey looks like as a wolf, but I’ve never seen anyone else in their other forms. How am I going to know I’m not aiming at the wrong wolf?”

The pack alpha and beta thought about it for a moment but remained silent. Looking at a loss for ideas, they frowned.

“I’ve got nothing,” Leia admitted.

Luke shrugged. “There has to be a way we can mark ourselves. Finn has to be able to see it too.”

It gave something for Finn to think about and he spent the next few minutes brainstorming everything he could. Finally, his mind came to hunting gear and bright colors striped down vests to let other hunters nearby know they were not animals to be shot at. 

“Can you still see in color in your other form?” He realized how dumb the wording sounded the moment it came out of his mouth.

Groaning, Rey put her head down on the table. “Seriously, Finn? We’re not dogs.”

“I know and that came out wrong,” Finn admitted. “I meant more like, if you wore bright colors, would that make it too easy for the other pack to spot you?”

There were some glances going around the table as the other three considered the idea. He could tell they were thinking everything through too.

“Maybe if it were on our tails,” Leia commented quietly.

Finn took that as an okay for this idea to move forward and wrote down another bullet point on his list of things to buy.

* * *

It wasn’t anything big, but Poe wanted to throw a small party at his place with his friends. A battle was coming, and he wanted to spend time with them before the chaos.

He called in for a catering platter from a nearby restaurant and ran to the store for drinks and snacks. Music was streamed, and he figured they would either want to play games or move the party elsewhere. They never were very formal with their gatherings.

It was just him, Rose, Paige, Rey and Finn and all of them seemed happy with this arrangement. However, though it was apparent that Rey and Finn had made up, the Tico sisters were obviously still arguing and their mood hung over everyone.

They started the evening by playing Cards Against Humanity, drinking and snacking on food while laughing. It felt good to be like this again despite what was on everyone’s mind.

But inevitably, the fight between packs had to be brought up at some point and of course, Rose was the one to start the conversation.

“You’re going with them, Finn?” she whispered.

Looking around the table with just as much uncertainty, he responded with a nod. “I want to help, if I can.”

Frowning, she looked back at her sister. “See? Finn’s not a wolf and he still gets to go.”

Paige groaned. “Not now.”

“I’m just saying,” Rose continued, “if Finn can go, why can’t I?”

No one said anything at first, all at a loss for words. Finally, Paige spoke up again. “Mom and Dad don’t want you to get hurt.” She said this with a hint of pain in her voice. “It scares them enough that one of us has to go.”

“But shouldn’t it be my choice?”

“Your parents love you, Rose,” Rey added. “They just want you to be safe. We all do.”

Acting a little defeated, the youngest Tico sister sighed and dropped the subject, picking at her sandwich. 

Finn watched her sadly, knowing how she felt. It was awful to perceive yourself as useless or weak and he imagined that was what she was thinking. He might have taught her the basics of shooting, but she had never killed anything before and her aim at times was still shaky. One day, she would be in top form, but right now she was not. It made him feel better too to know she would be out of harm’s way.

He found her later when she was sitting outside on Poe’s balcony alone and looking over the city sky. 

The problem was he wasn’t sure if he was welcome here. Rose certainly didn’t look happy to see him.

“I would have thought you would stick up for me.” She glared at him as he closed the door behind him.

She wasn’t going to let this go anytime soon, he realized and sighed. “Your family is just looking out for you,” he answered. “And well, I want to respect their wishes. Last thing I want is a family of werewolves to hate me.” It was his attempt at a joke, but Rose didn’t have a sense of humor tonight.

“I just want to be there for them, like you,” she said.

That was when he understood that no amount of humor was going to lighten the situation. Hadn’t Finn had the same fears about being left behind, prepared to resort to pleading with Rey to let him go with her? He and Rose were alike in that way, and he knew he needed to acknowledge that.

Instead, he found himself making a promise.

“I’ll look out for them.”

Lower lip trembling, Rose turned back to the cityscape and pressed her hands against her eyes.


	20. Chapter 20

“Hold still, Paige!”

He didn’t enjoy shouting at anyone, but she just wouldn’t hold still in her excitement. Paige kept wiggling around and he needed her to stand in place for a moment to mark her.

Shaking the paint cannister, Finn held Paige’s tail carefully to avoid pulling it. Aiming the nozzle, he pressed lightly on the top so a light stream of orange paint ran over her fur in a thick stripe. 

“Is that everyone?” He looked around as the only pair of human eyes in the group. Counting twenty-three wolves in total, he wondered if this would be a large enough number to fight the feral pack. Seventeen belonged to Rey’s pack, and the rest were volunteers from packs outside the area that could get here quick enough. 

When no one else came forward, he figured he had marked everyone. As long as he could see their tails, he would know if he was looking at a friend or a foe. It gave him some peace of mind, at least, even if it wasn’t the most ideal option to mark them.

A sudden bark startled him, but when he turned around, he found it was just the petite form of Leia calling everyone to attention, Luke standing behind her. The wolves gathered around her in a circle, lying down with their heads on the ground to show their respect to their leader.

He wondered if they were communicating in a way he couldn’t hear them, telepathically or with signals too quiet for him to hear. They probably didn’t want to make too much noise in case they gave themselves away to the feral pack.

Then, they stood up in unison, waiting for orders.

Breaking into a run, the pack split into two groups, one led by Luke and the other by Leia. Finn watched them vanish into the forest with only Rey staying behind as planned.

He looked at her with a feeling of dread sitting at the pit of his stomach. “Lead the way,” he told her, placing his hand on her back and stroking the fur there.

Just as they planned, Rey led him further into the woods, both of them staying silent as they carefully walked forward. Finn kept one hand on her back the entire time, the other on his rifle.

Being near her brought him a sense of security for the time being. Eventually, he knew they would have to part ways, but for now, he knew where she was and that she was safe. He hoped all the wolves would return home when this was over.

Like she understood what he was thinking, Rey nudged her head against his leg. She urged him to keep moving with her, stopping every so often to assess the area they were in.

A distant howl made them freeze. Rey’s fur stood on end around her neck. 

“This is it then?” Finn asked her. She nudged her head against him in response.

Quickly looking around the area, he spotted a tree that was just what he was looking for. A thick trunk with branches he could reach and sit in comfortably without compromising his safety. The spacing between the limbs would prevent wolves from trying to use them to reach him.

He stood under it and glanced up briefly before looking back over to Rey. She stood still, waiting.

Crouching down, Finn held his arms out and she ran right for them, whining. He placed his forehead against hers and stroked the fur around her neck.

“You’re coming back to me,” he reminded her. “You promised.”

She pushed her head away from him and stood on one of his thighs, using the leverage so she could wrap her neck around the side and back of his. He realized she was trying to give him a hug in the best way she could in this form.

Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered to her, “I’ll see you soon. Be safe.”

Pulling back, Rey stared at him for a moment longer before she ran off to join her family. Alone, Finn turned back to the tree and got to work.

He started by using the knots and low limbs of the tree to scale up it, using this method to get up to the sturdy limb he had scouted out. Placing his backpack down, he retrieved rope and an ATC clip and tossed the rope around the trunk three times before tying an overhand knot through the second loop. He clipped himself by the D-rings of his jacket, securing him in spot. 

Now came the trickier part.

Finn did a similar knot and wrap for his tripod, doing his best to make sure it was secured to the tree limb. It was a little shaky, so he knew he would still have to be careful. He stood his rifle on the tripod and moved it so that he started in a good position to see the forest floor.

The next part would be the waiting game.

* * *

Silently, Luke led his group west through the woodlands. They knew the feral pack was likely close, and they kept their wits about them. None of them really understood the layout of the forest well, so they were already at a disadvantage.

They passed by the other pack’s scent marker and knew they were still in their territory. Luke wondered if the pack had already picked up Leia’s group and went after them. That might give them the upper hand if they were so focused on one party. If the other could catch up, they could surround the wolves.

Sniffing the area, the group decided to turn themselves more north to avoid walking outside the edges of the territory. They would be less likely to encounter a wolf outside it.

It was another few minutes of walking before they found any sign of the pack.

A snap of a branch echoed through the trees, causing some of the wolves to startle and freeze in their spots, looking around for the source of the noise.

Investigating carefully, Luke padded silently in the direction of the sound and breathed deeply when he heard the familiar caw of a crow and watched it take flight.

“Just a bird,” he announced, watching some in his group visibly relax their shoulders.

The group continued into the darkness of the forest, tension filling the air.

A growl and a yelped alarmed them, sending the wolves into a sudden frenzy as they turned around to see the dark brown form of Vi Moradi being pinned against a tree by a massive silver wolf.

“Found the spy,” the wolf chuckled.

Running from around the trees, the feral pack surrounded Luke’s group, ganging up on the first wolves in their path. He ran to help Paige and her father try to pry one of the wolves off her back, clenching its neck with his jaws and tossing him off her. There was no time to stay to help her though; with Phasma in the mix, Paige would have to face this wolf herself.

Focusing on breaking the silver wolf’s hold on Vi, Luke lunged at her, teeth barred and ready to fight back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter to get the ball rolling on this final battle. The next couple of chapters are mainly fight scenes, and it takes me a little longer to edit and rewrite those.


	21. Chapter 21

Sprinting through the trees, Rey kept on the scent trail of Leia’s group, hoping she was right in thinking they were the closest. It stood to reason that the group going directly into the feral pack’s territory might need more teeth than the one skimming the perimeter. 

This part of the forest started to look (and smell) more and more familiar to her the deeper she went. She expected that any time now, she would come across one of the feral pack.

A quiet series of barks belonging to different wolves clued her in to where she needed to go. The closer she got, the louder they grew, and it sounded chaotic.

When she found the battle, she stood to the sidelines for a moment to assess the situation unfolding in front of her.

In groups, her family and the other pack were divided up, fighting one another and ganging up on smaller, weaker wolves when they could. She spotted Poe, Kaydel, Hype, and Bo, the latter two experienced fighters and quick on their feet. They were in territory that didn’t belong to them, so the other wolves would defend what they perceived as theirs or die trying. 

A quick scan of the area made her realize that not all the wolves in this group were accounted for. For one, Leia was not here and Kylo wasn’t either. Rey’s nerves lit up like electricity, knowing that her aunt had other plans but still worried for her all the same. She told her where to go, but no one could know what she would find on the way.

Poe was surrounded by three wolves, being pinned down to the ground and dragged around. Upon closer look, she noted the red slender form of Armitage Hux at the center of it and anger flared through her. Her friend needed her help and none of the other wolves had registered her arrival yet.

Positioning herself to strike at one of the smaller wolves, nearly black with dark brown undertones in its fur, Rey jumped into a run and headed straight for it. 

The impact of her crashing into the wolf sent them both skidding to the side of the group. The other wolf fell to its knees with a yelp and before it could snap out of its sudden daze and figure out what was going on, Rey leapt on it back and started to bite at its neck. Taking in its scent, she realized this was Mitaka, and he tried to struggle out of her grip.

He rolled to the ground, taking Rey with him and her jaws loosened just enough that he could get away. Running towards the trees, she stood up to chase after him, her legs pumping underneath her as quickly as she could with the longest strides she could make.

Mitaka was hoping to put enough distance between him and his attacker, hoping she would give up and turn around to go back and join the fighting, but Rey knew better. In a territory battle, this might have worked, but all the wolves had their orders and anyone that joined the fighting was a target that needed to be rid of. He wasn’t the worst of the bunch by far, but the feral pack broke the ancient rules that stood to protect all of wolfkind and ensure their survival, and for that, she couldn’t allow any of them to keep their lives.

It was obvious he wasn’t going to outrun her. Mitaka tried to throw her off by making sudden lunges to weave through the trees, but Rey knew this forest just as well as he did. When he was in range of her body, she made a leap for him, her teeth and claws intending to kill. Sinking her jaws into his neck once more, he yipped and tried to roll again, tossing her roughly into the ground and jumping on her when she let go.

Pushing her lower body into him when he bit at her muzzle, Rey managed to push him to the ground one more time and bit at the soft underside of his neck, intending to crush his windpipe. She could taste blood in her mouth as she clamped down harder, bringing Mitaka down to a lying position as he continued struggling against her. 

The longer she held down, the weaker his movements became until he went still. Letting go, Mitaka’s head slumped down, and she noted his shallow breathing. It would not be long before it stopped. He was losing blood too quickly.

Rey could not say she particularly enjoyed the gruesomeness of fights between wolves and she realized this was the first time she had killed another. Her human mind felt disgusted with herself, but her wolf instincts reminded her this was their way of life. Even if Mitaka had never gone after her mate or family like Kylo did, it had to be done.

She decided not to wait for the wolf to take his last breath; it would happen soon enough. There were no medics to help out here, no supplies nearby for first aid and no human hands available to help. Dying out here meant dying slowly and painfully, in horrific ways that no one would normally wish upon themselves.

The reality of this sunk into her finally. If she fell in a fight, she would not be going home, and well, she made a promise to Finn she fully intended to keep.

Hearing the growls and barks of the fighting in the distance brought her focus back to them and Rey ran back to help, hoping nobody of her pack fell while she was gone. Suddenly, that became one of her biggest fears. She never saw anyone as immortal, but the thought of losing them tonight, as quickly as the night crept upon them, was unbearable. It might be too much to hope for, but she wanted everyone to return home with her, safe and sound.

Poe was still fighting off Hux, though the other wolf that had ganged up on him lay dead on the ground nearby. The two wolves circled each other with fangs barred. Poe’s fur was matted from bite marks, clumps clinging to him. 

Pacing back and forth, the wolves followed one another, changing direction to avoid being bit. Rey wondered if she should intervene and move the planned attack along. If a wolf was giving them problems, they would try to lure it back to Finn for him to pick it off.

Finally, Poe was able to grab hold of the red wolf’s back leg, dragging him backward until he fell to the ground and tried to get away. Breaking away from his grip, Hux turned around quickly, trying to bite back.

Then, the red wolf took off running.

She thought she heard Poe swear out loud before he followed after Hux. Wondering if she should help, Rey looked around her and tried to decide what to do. There were still some enemy wolves here – she counted four – and if she and her pack worked together, they could finish them off, or at least lure them over to Finn. Poe could handle himself, she decided. Rey was needed here.

Another glance around the area confirmed that her aunt wasn’t here. It had been long enough that if she hadn’t rejoined the group, that meant she moved on.

Focusing instead on how to grab the attention of the remaining feral wolves, she approached an older gray wolf and tried to remember his name. His scent was familiar, but she didn’t recall seeing him much during her time with them. It made him a riskier selection for her to attempt this on because she wasn’t certain his typical behavior would have him go after her or if he was smart enough to figure out what she was doing.

Approaching him, Rey caught his attention immediately, and she started to engage him by pacing back and forth, sizing him up. He wasn’t too large, and though he might have been an experienced fighter, his age might be against him.

The other wolf lunged for her leg, intending to grab her. Taken by surprise, Rey almost didn’t jump away in time.

So he was a lot more spry than he appeared, maybe Rey needed to rethink this. Poe was probably still after Hux, but with Kylo and Phasma around, the pack needed to reserve as much strength as they could for those two.

Time to test out her other idea.

Loudly, so everyone around her could hear her, Rey let out a commanding bark, distracting everyone from their fighting. She jumped back and forth on the ground, her front lowered almost playfully if she wasn’t keeping watch on the gray wolf in front of her. He watched her actions, almost confused.

Waiting, she kept her ears open for her signal.

To her right, her packmate, Hype, responded with a bark of his own and their pack broke into a run, heading back in the direction from where they came.

She led them back towards Finn, looking back to see if their plan worked. To her relief, she saw it went exactly as they thought. Trailing behind the smaller frames of Bo and Kaydel, the feral pack gave chase. They probably were hoping to run them off their territory, thinking perhaps her pack was reconsidering the option.

Pacing herself, but trying to keep as much distance between her pack and the enemy, Rey hoped Finn was waiting and ready for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter! But it's all leading up to something! In real life, wolf fights (even in packs) are usually very short. The videos I've found, they average about a minute and a half and end when either one wolf/group backs down and is chased away or a wolf dies. Since I'm going more for realism here, each fight will reflect this, however, there are stories being woven within the battle.


	22. Chapter 22

Moving his legs as fast as they could carry him, Poe tracked Hux deeper and deeper into the woodlands. He wondered what tricks the red wolf was up to and how wary he needed to be. The forest was unfamiliar to Poe and anything could be out there. A ravine to fall in. Another wolf to aid him.

If he were honest with himself, Poe easily could bet that his enemy was trying to lure him to the latter. Phasma, probably, but maybe even Kylo. Hux was smart and crafty, but when it came to sheer brawn, even Poe could take him.

The scent broke off into another direction, making a sudden sharp turn eastward. Poe looked around, trying to locate the other wolf, and found nothing but darkness and dead leaves.

He slowed to a jog, his instincts telling him that something wasn’t right. 

And that was when he heard it. As quiet as it was, he might have mistaken the slight puff of air as the breeze rustling the brush. Moving in the direction of the sound, Poe looked around for any sign of the other wolf, figuring he was hiding nearby. 

Suddenly, a stabbing pain shot through his front left paw and Poe backed away, inspecting the ground behind it. Pointed, whittled sticks were embedded underneath a thin layer of loose dirt and leaves, planted there on purpose. Looking around, he spotted another patch along a distant tree.

He looked around the side of the fir with the trap and found the other half was clear. Lunging behind it, he caught the slender tail of his enemy in his jaws, forcing a yelp out of him as he dragged the wolf out in the open.

Hux gripped his paws into the ground, trying to anchor himself so he could turn and pounce on Poe. He opened his jaws and bit at his opponent’s muzzle, drawing blood.

“Kin traitor,” Poe spat as he rolled them over, trying to get an opening at the soft underside of Hux’s neck. His mouth stung where the other wolf bit him, but he ignored it, wanting to end this quickly.

Continuing to struggle to get away, Hux replied, “At least I’m not denying who I am to appeal to humans.” Then he tried to flip them again, nipping his open mouth at Poe once more to try to get another bite in.

Using his back legs, Poe curled them towards his exposed stomach and kicked outward, making contact with Hux’s chest and sending him backwards. He stumbled onto his back and wiggled to try to right himself.

“Pretty sure human hands had to craft those,” Poe spat.

The split-second of time was enough for Poe to get back on his feet and jump on the other wolf as Hux turn over on his side. Jaws open, he tore at the flesh on the neck, hoping to wound it enough that the red wolf would lose bleed out on the forest floor where he chose his fate for himself the moment he turned his back on the old laws.

He could feel Hux slowing down underneath him as blood began to soak his fur and run down his neck, dripping to the ground. Scratching and kicking, the red wolf made a feeble attempt to get Poe off of him.

Biting down one more time, Poe heard a rattled breath gasp out of his enemy and he let go. Hux dragged himself out from under him, turning to his side to get onto his belly. As weak as he was, Poe was surprised he had any strength to crawl away, taking deep, rasping breaths with each movement.

Stopping at the base of a tree, Hux collapsed in its shade, wheezing three more shallow breaths before the rise and fall of his stomach ceased.

Not wasting another moment on the red wolf, Poe hurried back to help his pack, wondering where they might have gone off to when he returned to find only the bodies of dead wolves. Thinking quickly, he realized they must have rushed back to Finn for extra help.

He didn’t hear the footsteps of the black wolf approach until he was upon him.

* * *

Leaning back against the tree trunk, Finn checked his phone and clocked that he had been waiting for nearly 30 minutes. Waiting around for something this nerve-wracking was never enjoyable, but like a good soldier, he would just have to deal with it. His boredom was far less important than the task at hand.

Feeling chilly, he zipped up his jacket as far as he could, glad he thought to wear layers including a fleece sweater. Too bad the wolves couldn’t wait a few more months to do this when the nights were warmer, he mused.

He wondered how far out the two groups were. They could cover ground pretty quickly, but if they had a lot of distance between him, it might be awhile before they got back here.

Not that he actually wanted to shoot anyone, but he really should have brought something to pass the time, or at least something warm to drink.

Studying the surrounding area, he made note of potential blind spots and places wolves could hide. He didn’t have a lot of room to move around and couldn’t turn to look in the opposite direction without having to unclip himself and having his view blocked by the thick tree trunk. That could pose a problem if the wolves ran behind him, which was very possible.

A distant collective group of barks caught his attention, and he jumped into position, leaning over the tree branch to use his scope to take aim.

Waiting, he looked for any sign of movement, knowing he would have to wait to get a clear look at the emerging wolves to make sure he was aiming at the right ones.

The howls and barks grew closer.

When he heard the patter of running in the distant trees, he moved the scope in that direction, concentrating on the sound. 

The first wolves emerged out of the darkness, their tails trailing behind them, a stripe of bright orange visible like a flag. Rey was among them and Finn felt a little relief settle over him. 

Following them at a distance, three unmarked wolves appeared, their snarls warnings to the other pack. Finn’s scope found the first of them, an older wolf with graying fur. Carefully but quickly, he aimed the rifle to where the wolf was headed and gently tugged at the trigger.

The subsequent shot and yelp of the wolf meant he hit his target. Alarmed, the enemy pack howled and whined fearfully, sniffing the air as their packmate fell to the ground. The confusion gave Finn another opening to aim at another one quickly, opening fire on it. The brown wolf howled in pain before slumping over. 

The last wolf was out of his sight and he could tell by the snarls that the pack was trying to lure it back in range. He eyed it, tried to predict its movements, but made sure not to mistake Rey’s packmates for the small black wolf.

If the wolf escaped, it could get back to its pack and warn them about coming to this part of the forest. That would be a setback against the bigger feral wolves like Kylo, who the pack were hoping Finn could take care of so they wouldn’t risk their own lives.

Rey and her group ganged up on the feral wolf. It tried to move away from them by walking backwards, tail pointed at the ground and ears pinned back as it growled a warning to them.

The dark brown wolf called Hype, if Finn recalled correctly, was the first one to jump on it. Hype bit at the feral wolf’s back legs while the other wolf attempted to kick and scratch him on the face. The other wolf, Bo, pushed at the feral wolf’s side, and when it toppled over, he bit at its muzzle.

Staying away from the fight, Rey watched them and glanced around the forest as if keeping watch. Concerned she might be hurt, Finn monitored her behavior while watching the fight to see if he would have a clear shot. With the two other wolves fighting, he was too concerned about hitting the wrong one.

Gazing directly up at Finn in the tree, she met his eyes for a moment like she was checking on him before she quickly moved her attention back to the fight. She was keeping an eye on things for the other two wolves.

With two wolves fighting one and another standing by, it didn’t take long until the dying cry of the feral wolf broke through the quiet of the night. The other wolves leaped off it and barked at Rey. Jogging a few steps forward, she looked back at Finn, tail wagging with the orange paint waving like a flag before she followed them.

He wondered how long it would be before another group of wolves would show up. Rey and her group were heading towards where Luke’s group went but not seeing any sign of Leia or Poe worried him. There were other wolves missing and Finn rather hoped they all just broke up into another group than the alternative…

Alone again, Finn waited, trying not to think about the dead wolf that lay on the ground nearby.

* * *

With Vi out of Phasma’s grasp, Luke found his group had walked into an ambush. How they knew they were coming was Luke’s guess, but Phasma was known as an expert tracker and he wouldn’t put it past her to see the signs of a territory invasion before they got far.

After the silver wolf made her appearance and pinned Vi, feral pack surrounded their enemies. Within moments, the forest became an arena of snarls and teeth.

As large as she was, Phasma had no problem pushing Luke to his back, snapping her jaws at his neck. She bit into his fur and he couldn’t help the yelp he voiced as he kicked back with his legs to try to get her off him. It was harder to keep his balance with only one front leg, but years of practice kept him upright.

He bit at her muzzle and with a snarl, Phasma pinned him down again. Using his legs to keep her away from his body, Luke rolled back and forth on his back, trying to get out from under her. He bit at her cheek, drawing blood and she snarled as she dived to bite him back.

As she moved to aim at his shoulder, Luke used the opportunity to move to the side and kicked at the side of her head. Craning his neck backwards, he grabbed at her fur and stood up, trying to toss her down. Instead, she tore away from him, blood matting her silver fur.

Lunging for his hindquarters, Phasma bit down and Luke followed to copy her, the pain forcing her to let go. She tried to run forward to put space between him and he pursued. 

Though he hesitated at the thought of leaving the other wolves, allowing Phasma to run loose was a threat to them all. He cut her off to stop her from entering other fights, hoping to frustrate her enough that he could run her off in the direction where a bullet waited for her. 

Once, he might have been able to defeat her on his own, but his age was catching up to him. Already he could tell his body couldn’t handle all her bites and lunges. If he were lucky, he might be able to get on her back and bite down hard enough on the tender flesh of her neck, but the more sensible option was to lead her to Finn.

A sudden noise startled the fighting wolves; a pop echoed through the forest, followed by another shortly later. There was no mistaking it: gunshots.

The silver wolf snarled at him before she burst into a run and went towards the sound. 

Not trusting Phasma didn’t have any more tricks up her sleeve, Luke trailed behind her.


	23. Chapter 23

The moment the black wolf slammed into him, Poe knew exactly who it was. It had been years since they practiced fighting in their wolf forms as teenagers, but he knew the style and technique of an old friend anywhere.

Kylo was huge, and the time he spent in the feral pack only served to strengthen him. Despite this, Poe knew when to roll to his side to get out of the way. Standing up, he regarded his enemy, mirroring his movements to keep him from getting past and finding an opening for attack. 

Growing frustrated, Kylo reared on his hind legs in an attempt to overtake the other wolf and Poe met him halfway. They bit at each other’s neck, trying to push the other one down so they could get a better stance at getting the upper hand.

Kylo grabbed Poe’s muzzle with his teeth and shook his powerful head, prompting a yelp out of Poe as he tried to stay on his feet. He could taste blood in his mouth.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

Loosing his footing, Poe found himself on the ground, pinned down by the black wolf. Exposed, he tried to get away by pushing with his back legs and struggling into a roll, but Kylo was too big. 

The black wolf lunged for his neck and Poe found a sudden burst of strength out of his fear to kick back at Kylo. The impact sent the other wolf staggering to the side, falling to his side with a yowl.

Limping to stand up, Kylo stared at Poe and growled. His back thigh was wet with blood oozing from an open wound.

The spikes. With how careful he was trying to avoid them, Poe almost forgot they could help him with other wolves. Maybe if he tried to push Kylo into more…

Knowing the trap around him, the black wolf had other ideas. He circled around the dark brown wolf, eying him with ferocity. Poe knew that even as Kylo stumbled on his injured leg, he’d still put up a fight. 

Catching him off-guard, Kylo lunged and jumped upon him, and he didn’t have enough time to react to get out of the way. He howled in pain as his front leg was grabbed and dragged, Kylo dead set on tearing off his limb if he could. 

In a desperate attempt to get away, Poe tossed his body into a turn and bit Kylo on the shoulder. As much as it sickened him to think, he knew Ben Solo was gone, and he didn’t care about their childhood ties. Nothing he said would change that.

_Pop. Pop._

The two wolves paused and looked around. Confused, Kylo sniffed the air. Finn must have opened fire on the feral wolves, Poe thought. He hoped he aimed true.

“Humans,” Kylo spat. “Doing your dirty work for you? Not strong enough to fight like a real wolf?”

He moved away from Poe, but not before biting down again on Poe’s already injured leg.

Limping towards the opposite way of where the gunshots were coming from, Kylo vanished in the trees and brush. Poe wondered if he was going to warn other wolves, or maybe if he would hide because of his injury, which Poe himself was considering.

It hurt to move, and with only three of his legs in condition to take weight on them, he stumbled as he tried to amble away to find an abandoned burrow or ditch to rest in. The other wolves might smell him if they came here, but hopefully it would be a friend and not a foe.

* * *

Rustling in the bushes startled Finn, making him reach for his scope and keep an eye out for anything to emerge where the sound was coming from. He breathed in and held it, not wanting to make a sound.

The rustling began again, this time visible to his eye. Whatever was there was right in front of him.

A black and white bird shot out of the brush, flying away in a hurry. Finn released the breath he was holding. 

“Damn magpie,” he said under his breath as he tried to relax again.

Distracted by the bird, Finn didn’t see the wolf approaching from behind him.

A snarl, too close for his comfort, echoed in his ear, followed by a flash of silver and white teeth. 

The wolf leapt in the air, trying to snap it jaws at Finn before landing on the ground again. Judging by her massive size and silver fur, he guessed this must be Phasma, one of the most dreaded wolves in the feral pack.

His plan of action was to keep his legs up on the branch, hoping she would keep leaping at him until she was exhausted or gave up. Then, he would aim for the kill. The wolves would thank him later.

Wising up to the height of the branch, Phasma circled the tree. Watching. Studying. Finn waited to see if she would get in range, keeping his hand on his rifle. 

Walking away from the tree, the silver wolf stopped and looked up at the human on the limb. He wondered if she was about to give up and looked for an opening.

Using the distance between her and the tree, Phasma began to run towards it, using her speed and strength to run a few feet up the trunk and get her close enough to close her jaws around the rope keeping Finn secure. As gravity claimed her, her weight tugged sharply on the rope, dragging him over the side no matter how hard he tried to wrap his arms around the limb.

He dangled to the side of the tree by his waist, knowing he only had split seconds to figure something out before the wolf would go after his legs.

Thinking quickly, he tugged on the belay to unclip himself and braced for the impact he would have on the ground. Finn’s fall was broken by the wolf underneath him, prompting a yelp as he landed on top of her.

Struggling to stand, he kicked at the wolf’s head when she turned over and tried to bite him. Whatever happened, he needed to make sure she didn’t injure him before he could pull his handgun out of his inner jacket pocket. He knew to come prepared for anything, and in the event something like this happened, he wanted a backup weapon on his person. The Skywalker rifle was beautiful, but it still sat in the tree limb above.

Dragging it out of his pocket, he turned the safety off quickly and tried to aim for the silver wolf, only to find himself falling flat on his back as she grabbed his boot and shook him, causing him to lose his balance. 

He knew he’d only have one shot to get this right. If he missed, nothing would stop her from killing him.

Waiting for the right moment, he watched her movements until she noticed the gun in his hands. Snarling, Phasma jumped up and lunged for his upper body, fangs barred.

This was as good enough as he would get. Putting pressure on the trigger, he fired one of the silver bullets at her.

She rasped as the bullet tore through the bottom of her chin, angled into her neck. Gasping for breath, the silver wolf fell to the ground bleeding from a bullet hole and writhed in pain for a moment before going still.

Not believing his luck, Finn sat up and pushed the dead wolf off of him, giving him a moment to catch his breath. 

An angry bark startled him and he tried to move back to aim the gun one more time when a smaller tan wolf approached him. He stumbled with his movements, trying to get himself ready for another quick shot.

_Bang!_

With a yelp, the wolf fell to the ground, much to Finn’s shock. He looked around for the source of the gunshot.

The bushes rustled behind him and he braced himself, only to breathe again when another tan wolf emerged, panting like he had just ran from a long way on its three legs. It wagged its tail urgently and showing off the orange paint sprayed on it. This was Luke, he realized, but there was no way Luke could have shot the feral wolf in this form. No thumbs.

He looked back at the dead wolf and tried to follow where the bullet would have come from, his eyes trailing to a thicket of brush. 

With Luke at his side, the two looked in the direction where the gunshot came from. “Is someone there?” he called out, keeping the gun held out and ready.

When the figure emerged from the darkness, her hands up and looking apologetic, Finn swore under his breath.

“What are you doing here, Rose?”

Luke made a strange noise, a cross between a whine and a growl.

She winced, knowing she was in trouble. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, Rose! What are you doing, girl?


	24. Chapter 24

Jogging through the forest, Leia kept her nose aware of everything around her, trying to avoid meeting any wolf on the path to where she was going. There was something she was set on doing and if Rey’s directions were clear, she was getting closer to the right place.

This part of the woodlands had a quiet and forgotten beauty about it and Leia would have liked to stop to enjoy the scenery if the situation they were in hadn’t been so dark. At the edge of a pond full of aquatic plant life, the forest seemed peaceful and far away from the battle taking place out of sight.

Few wolves had been to this area, judging by the scents around her. It was secluded but easy to access for anyone that wanted to; she guessed that meant the area had been forbidden to most.

Keeping her eyes open for movement, she wandered deeper into the glen, searching for her target. Another wolf could be standing sentry, but if she were lucky, they had all been sent away to fight.

She stopped in front of the pond, staring at the reflection of the crescent moon in the water. The forest reflected behind her too and she saw in the corner of her eye, movement mirrored in the pond.

“Who’s there?” a low voice grumbled. “I don’t recognize your scent.”

“I wouldn’t expect you would,” Leia growled. “I’m not one of your feral mutts.”

Turning around, she watched the elderly wolf slowly stand up, his joints cracking from the effort. He chuckled. “Leia Organa, what a surprise.”

“Is it really?” She tilted her head, not believing a word he said.

The sickly pale wolf squinted at her, trying to see through the difficulty of his cataracts. “I knew you would show up eventually. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Indeed. We can start with why a pack of werewolves are breaking the old laws.”

“The old laws have led us astray,” the ancient wolf responded. “Forced us to hide who we are; denying us our destiny.”

Leia snapped. “You mean our destiny of extinction if the wrong humans knew what we were? Snoke,” she addressed the old wolf directly, “you were once one of the most revered scholars of wolfkind. What happened to you?”

“I found enlightenment,” Snoke roared. “Spread that knowledge to those who were brave enough to listen.” His lips curled into a grotesque smile, unsettling to see even on a half-human creature. “Your son has the most sense out of your entire pack.”

The red hot intensity of rage filled Leia. She clenched her jaw, snarling like a savage beast. Getting close to the old wolf’s face, she opened her mouth and bit at the air to threaten him.

Snoke laughed lowly. “Are you going to kill me, Leia?”

“That would be mercy for you. When your pack is dead there will be no one to feed you. For all you’ve done, I ought to leave you to starve.”

“Exactly what I would expect from you, Alpha Bitch.”

She could not contain the anger and pain cumulated from the last few months anymore. The term was all too familiar to her, especially when she was in her early 20s and just became the pack alpha. Back then, it still wasn’t all that common for a woman to lead. Leia’s fierceness and fire proved her worth as an alpha, but many challenged her for the title early on. While technically, calling a female wolf a bitch was terminologically correct, human culture created a distaste for the word. Calling someone an Alpha Bitch, only had a sexist meaning behind it now, usually used as an insult from men who believe a female wolf’s place is submissive to the males.

That was exactly what Snoke believed.

A swipe of her paw against his face left bleeding scratches down his cheek. He stumbled to the side from the impact, but did not fall. As frail as he was, she was surprised he stayed standing. 

It only served to make her angrier.

“You,” she snarled. “You’ve taken everything from me!”

“Only because you couldn’t hold on to it.”

Lunging at Snoke, Leia decided the best thing for the world and for her was if he was dead. He may not have broken any of the old laws himself, but he encouraged his feral pack to kill humans. For that, he was just as guilty as the rest of them, and the punishment for breaking the old laws was death.

She would be more than happy to serve out that punishment.

Using very little of her strength, Leia flipped Snoke to the ground and pinned him there. Growling, she glared at him.

“Where’s your pack now?” she taunted him. “I don’t see them coming to your rescue.”

A sudden expression of uncertainty appeared on the sickly wolf’s face, followed by fear. It was like looking at someone who was so certain about every, so confident their plans would go just as foreseen, that they forgot to account for the one thing that would bring those plans toppling down on top of them.

For a moment, she lingered over him, letting the realization set in that in the end, the feral pack cared very little about an old wolf that could only provide a few words of inspiration.

Pleased with his change of tune, the alpha leader leaned over and bit into the old wolf’s neck, gripping it with her jaws and shaking him like a dog with a rag toy. All of her fury went into his death. She shook him, snarling and tossing him until she heard a sickening _snap_ and blood filled her mouth.

Releasing Snoke, he fell limp to the ground. She inspected his body, finding she had snapped his neck. As frail as he was, it was almost too easy. 

With a dead wolf laying at her feet, Leia found that her anger had not waned. She knew killing him would not bring back her son and it couldn’t bring back Han, but she thought revenge would release some of tension within her. Maybe it would take some time for reality to set in.

She went back to the pond and stared at the reflection of the moon. It was rather lonely out here, but peaceful. If there wasn’t a battle going on, she would have liked to spend the night here to reflect on how her life had changed so quickly.

Her time was cut short however, when she registered a new appearance.

Sighing, she didn’t turn around to look at the wolf. “You’re too late for your master. I can’t believe you would follow a wolf so weak.”

Her son stared at the body of Snoke with no emotion. “His time was coming,” he replied. “If not now by your hand, I would have ended him before winter.”

“You have no sense of loyalty, do you?” Leia asked. “Your father and I thought you would make a great leader. How wrong we were.”

“For a pack of mutts, perhaps,” he retorted. “But for our great pack, there is no better prospect than myself.” The corners of Ben’s jowl curved upward into an unsettling smile. “And your own pack has made it easier for me to assume that position, with that annoying Hux gone.”

“Thought he was your friend.” She seriously couldn’t believe her ears. Ben certainly turned out to be a real winner. Ready to turn on his friends and family when it suited him. How did she and Han raise him to become such a monster?

Her son drew closer, keeping his head high to express his opinion of superiority. “An ally perhaps, but he always had to have his way.”

Leia prepared herself to have to fight again, even if her opponent was her own son. Likely, he would overpower her, but that was something she had to accept.

“You must think you’re clever to have Rey’s human fight for you. Pick us off.” He continued. “Tell me: what do you think he’ll do if he finds his mate won’t be going home with him?”

“Leave her alone, Ben,” she warned.

He moved away from his mother, his back to her. “I should have killed her when she first stepped foot into our territory,” he said. “I allowed emotional ties to lead me astray; a mistake I’ll never make again.” Sprinting away, he headed for a large stone near the edge of the clearing.

“Ben!” Leia shouted after him.

Not paying her any mind, the black wolf jumped on the stone and immediately raised his head, pointing his muzzle towards the night sky. A howl drew forth from his throat, the sound drifting clearly through the forest.

A chill ran down her spine. Her son wasn’t announcing Snoke’s death nor assuming power for himself…

He was calling for reinforcements…

Leia couldn’t stay here. Even if Ben were in this area, her pack needed to be warned. 

Looking one last time at the black wolf that was once her son, she turned away and ran back toward her pack, hoping she would get to them before the other feral wolves did.


	25. Chapter 25

The strain of running so far for so long at this speed was getting to her. With each flex of her legs, Leia’s muscles protested. It had been years since she ran like this, with urgency and frantic pacing.

She couldn’t stop now, she reminded herself. There was too much at stake.

The problem was she had no idea where her pack was who was still alive. They could be anywhere by now.

A wolf lay dead by a fir tree and she only slowed to inspect the body to confirm it wasn’t one of her own. The red fur was telling; this was Armitage Hux. She felt a sense of satisfaction seeing blood soak into his fur around his neck. As far as she knew, he had been the first contact her son had with the feral pack, acting as a recruiter of sorts that sent him spiraling into his fall. How many families had been torn apart by this man?

Lingering in the air, the scent of one of her family. It was strong, meaning he was nearby.

“Poe?”

A rustling in the bushes responded to her call. A dark brown head emerged from the safety of the ground cover. 

“I’m here,” he replied.

“Are you hurt?”

He winced. “Ran into Ben. He tore up my leg pretty bad.”

“Can you walk?” She didn’t know where Ben’s reinforcements would travel, but she didn’t want to leave her pack exposed and vulnerable.

Poe stood up and moved closer, grimacing. “Slowly.”

It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than him not being able to walk at all. “The rest of the feral pack is coming,” she warned. “Get as far away from here as possible.”

“Wait.” Poe looked horrified. “Don’t tell me there’s _more_ of them.”

“Afraid so.”

He swore, but moved forward. “We gotta warn the others.”

“Was on my way to do just that.” Leia turned back the way she was headed. “Just watch out for yourself, Poe. I expect to see you when all of this is over. Alive.”

“I expect the same of you, Pack Leader,” Poe replied. He winked at her.

The brief interlude in her path gave her enough of a break to catch her breath. Finding the resolve to keep her family safe, Leia broke into another run.

* * *

“I’m sorry,” Rose cried again. “I just couldn’t-"

Finn was not happy with this turn of events, and by the look of it, neither was Luke. The reason she was forbidden to help tonight was because of the added danger she brought to herself and others. The pack had enough to worry about without the added stress of keeping an eye on her.

“Your mother stayed behind so she could be with you,” Finn pointed out. 

“She’s probably figured out where I’ve gone by now,” Rose mumbled.

Frowning, Finn wondered who would be more upset by her not following orders: the pack or her parents. He sighed, rubbing his forehead to soothe his new, sudden headache.

“Well, you’re here now, so we might as well put you to work.”

Rose slid her backpack off, set her gun to safety, then slipped it back inside. Waiting for Finn’s direction, she looked around the surrounding area. He knew they needed to get to safety quickly. The wolves could be back at any moment.

“Can you climb a tree?” he asked.

Nodding, she put her backpack on. “Of course.”

Not expecting another human to be here, Finn had only packed enough supplies for himself. He inspected the tree again and figured the best way to accommodate two humans. Rose had decent aim, but too much movement could throw her off balance and out of the tree. Likewise, Finn faced a similar situation by lowering himself to the tree limb to use the rifle.

There was a limb just a little farther up the tree, facing the opposite side where he was situated. He pointed to it. “Can you get up to that limb?”

Gazing upward, Rose scrunched her nose. “Think so.”

Finn moved back to directly under the tree and gestured for Rose to stand behind him. “Follow me and get up to that spot.”

He took a similar path up to what he did earlier, looking for spots that made decent footing with branches to help him pull up. Following his movements, Rose groaned as she tried to keep up.

“You make this look easy,” she accused.

Laughing, Finn pulled himself back in his spot. “Spend too much time trying to stay in shape, or so Rey tells me.” 

“Gotta keep the girlfriend happy,” Rose agreed.

Helping her with spotting ahead of her climbing, Finn kept glancing down at the ground for a split second to make sure there were no signs of the feral pack. Below, Luke was doing the same; keeping an eye out for danger while occasionally looking up to check on the humans in the tree.

Rose swung her leg over the tree limb and situated herself. 

“Don’t move around too much,” Finn warned her. “If the wolves come, only aim where you can see them. Our pack’s tails are tagged with orange paint.”

On the ground, Luke wagged his tail for emphasis. Rose laughed at the sight.

“That’s a good idea,” she observed.

“Well, I don’t want to shoot at the wrong wolf,” Finn explained.

Her voice intoned a pitch higher. “I never thought of that.” She sounded horrified. The reality of the situation may have finally caught up with her. “Do you know where the pack is now?”

“They’re scattered. They broke into two groups to cover more ground.”

He couldn’t see her reaction, but Finn knew that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Looking at his watch, he estimated they hadn’t been in the forest for over two hours and wondered how long a werewolf pack fight could last? 

Trying to pull his sweater over his nose to warm it, Finn imagined being back in his car where he could sit in the comfort of a heater, Rey by his side.

* * *

“Okay, that should be a good spot to rest.”

“Thank you, Rey.”

Vi lowered herself under the gap between the ground and a rotted log. Her encounter with Phasma left an oozing wound on her back and later fights with the feral wolves left her worst for ware. 

Helping her find a spot to hide, Rey kept an eye out for danger while Vi situated herself. It would be best for her to take it easy.

The pack on this side of the forest hadn’t fared well. Most of them were hurt in some way, and not just minor scrapes and bruises. Rey was particularly concerned about the nasty gash on the back of Freya’s neck. Without treatment, she might lose too much blood. 

Rey wondered if she should have those wolves get away from here and find treatment, but she hesitated to give orders without the permission of her pack leaders. Her aunt and father might have a better idea on what was safer, and she worried that sending a group of hurt wolves out could put them in greater danger. She also didn’t want to step out of line by making a choice that should be left up to better people.

Limping on her front left leg, Paige came closer to speak with her. “Should I be getting the others ready to move out?” She took a bad fall when fighting off two wolves at once, but she insisted on fighting on. Rey was awestruck by her attitude and her loyalty, but she worried about her getting hurt worse.

“Are you sure you should be going out?”

Paige shrugged her shoulders. “We need all the help we can get. And I can still fight.”

Part of Rey had her doubts, which only increased her concern, but she also didn’t want to tell her friend what to do. If Paige felt like she could keep going… Well, Rey couldn’t think of a better person to be a beta leader.

She wondered where her father went off to… The last anyone had seen him, he had chased after Phasma further into the forest. It worried her that her father would go after such a strong and large wolf, but she expected nothing less of him.

An urgent barking caught their attention. Rey and Paige crouched to the ground, ready to be defensive if needed.

The petite figure of Leia appeared in front of them. She panted, looking around bewildered. 

“Aunt Leia,” Rey gasped. “Are you all right?”

“More wolves are coming,” she warned. “Ben is leading reinforcements.”

Rey and Paige looked at each other nervously. “How far?”

“Not sure, but they can cover ground quickly.”

The three female wolves looked around them to count the number of injured in the area. The alpha leader didn’t look pleased with this one bit.

“What should we do about the injured?” Paige asked.

“Like yourself?” Leia observed.

Paige didn’t seem happy with that suggestion. “I’m needed here.”

Their alpha wasn’t convinced, and visibly showed this. “You’re hurt. How are you going to fight off more wolves when you’re like this?”

She didn’t respond for a moment. “I have to help my pack,” she mumbled. 

“I appreciate the loyalty, Paige,” said Leia. “But if you push yourself, you might not survive the night.”

“I’ll survive. I promised my mother and sister I’ll see them again.”

Rey had never seen her friend act so stubborn to not take her alpha’s suggestions before. It concerned her that Paige might not be in the right mind to be fighting. She knew from experience that being reckless usually brought along consequences.

“Well,” Leia replied, “if you’re sure… I really can’t stop you. But I want you to really think about this.”

A howl, followed by a series of growls and barks brought their thoughts back to the danger coming their way. Any moment now, the feral pack would be upon them again.

“Everyone,” Leia called. “The other pack is coming. If you can’t continue to fight, try to get away from the forest. If you are hurt and can’t move quickly, find a place to hide.” She looked around her at all the wolves like she was realizing this may be the last time she ever saw them. Understanding the dreadful feeling, Rey did the same and hoped nothing befell the ones trying to get out. 

The alpha spoke again. “Everyone else, come with me.”


	26. Chapter 26

The distant howls grabbed his attention. Luke’s ears twitched forward, listening in carefully. These were not the cries of his pack. No, this was the feral group, and they were coming his way.

Distinctly, he identified his nephew’s calls leading the pack. Ben had assumed power in the pack and he was finally entering the fray. Luke wished he could say he was surprised, but really he couldn’t. His pack was tired from the first wave of fighting and Ben was bringing in more wolves to finish them off.

He worried what that meant for the tide of the battle.

Above in the tree, Finn and Rose waited oblivious to the danger coming. Luke thought she might be able to distinguish the feral wolves’ howls from her own pack, but wondered if she knew what they meant. He still had a lot of questions over what children like her could and couldn’t do.

Trying to get their attention, he barked and ran in circles around the base of the tree. Finn looked down and his brows knitted together in confusion.

“Hey Rose,” he raised his voice. “I think Luke’s trying to tell us something.”

She glanced downward too and sighed deeply. “Luke, we can’t understand you like this.” Lowering her voice, she said to Finn, “I think it’s got something to do with those howls. They’re not our pack’s.”

Luke nodded his head with a bark.

“Must mean something bad’s coming,” Finn observed.

Confirming this, Luke woofed again.

The pair stared down at him for a moment before they frantically grabbed for their gear.

“Get ready.”

“On it.”

Finn leaned over the tree branch while Rose kept herself sitting firmly against the trunk of the tree, holding her pistol close. He wasn’t sure how long it would be until the other wolves got here, but Luke was glad to see they were prepared. 

There likely wouldn’t be another wolf as bold as Phasma on the battlefield, but that didn’t mean Ben wouldn’t look to harming either Finn or Rose. He didn’t think his nephew was stupid enough to try going up against guns, but with the goal of the feral pack being running humans out of their homes, he wasn’t sure about that anymore.

If they were lucky, Ben would walk straight into the path of Finn and Rose’s sight.

However, it was more likely they would avoid this spot if they were aware of the earlier gunshots.

The pack was getting closer. Not only were their cries growing louder but their scent carried stronger in the breeze. Even if Finn and Rose were safe in a tree, what about the rest of his family? Leia? Rey? He believed they were still alive – call it intuition or instinct – but he knew there was no way all of his pack were.

He knew Ben probably had it out for his cousin more than any other wolf in the pack. Not only did Rey love a human man, but she also tricked Ben, making him believe in false pretenses when she joined the feral pack for a few weeks. Luke didn’t like the idea of his daughter facing Ben alone.

Even without one of his limbs, Luke had still been a fighter to be reckoned with. He used to practice fight with his nephew and knew most of his tricks and techniques: use brute force. He couldn’t exactly say Ben was a slow learner, but he had a tendency to develop habits that made him predictable. 

Luke made up his mind. He needed to find his pack.

With one last glance up towards the tree, he silently wished Finn and Rose the best of luck. They would be okay, he told himself. He had faith in them.

Running in the direction of the howls, he kept his ears and eyes open for any signs of movement of obstacles in his path. With only three legs, sometimes he had to overcompensate for his balance.

Following the scent trail, he found himself on the right path. Leia had been here just minutes before and Rey just before her.

Then, more wolves. Ben’s scent covered by an army of unfamiliarity. They were close and if he were quick enough, Luke might be able to sneak around them and get to his family first.

Emerging in a clearing, he felt too exposed out in the open. Too many chances for the enemy to find a weakness. Nervously, he jogged to the side of the woods, trying to use the trees for cover.

A pair of eyes reflected light, giving off a ghastly glow. Luke took an uneasy step back. He knew this wolf’s scent, and the realization created a lump in his throat.

Ben.

It was a risk he knew coming in, but Luke had hoped he wouldn’t encounter his nephew alone.

The black wolf walked out of the darkness, expressionless. “Have you come to take my birthright away from me too?”

Luke was confused. “What birthright?”

“My right to lead a pack.”

“Everyone as that right, Ben,” Luke corrected. “Win an Alpha’s Dance like everyone else. You can’t be handed the position just because your family has alphas.”

His nephew rolled his eyes. “Those are the new laws,” he countered. “Once, I would have been recognized as the next rightful alpha.”

“Back when packs were made of members all related to one another, perhaps. That’s not how it works now.” It was true once Ben could have been in line to be an alpha if all the other members were his offspring. It used to be much easier when wolf packs were a related family, with the eldest parent wolves leading them. Once their numbers became scarce and packs formed with unrelated members, Alpha’s Dances became the norm. “I’m pretty sure none of those wolves are your children.”

Rage seemed to pour out of Ben, a cruelty he showed to his parents and cousin, now making itself known to Luke. But that wasn’t all that he sensed. There was fear there, an uncertainty in his own abilities that he masked so well with arrogance.

When Luke said nothing more, Ben lowered his body closer to the ground, his lips curled upward in a growl, revealing his teeth. 

Luke took on a similar stance, or as best as he could. Ready to fight, the two wolves eyed each other, their stares fixed. They circled each other, adjusting their stance as they moved and not looking away.

“I’m sorry you feel this way about our kind,” Luke said. “Truly, I am.”

“I’m sure you are,” Ben spat. “Your pack is tired and soon they will all be dead. Your daughter’s lousy human too.”

He waited to see what his uncle would say, but Luke just arched the ridge above his eye.

“You think that’s how this is going to go?” he asked. “Amazing. You’ve learned nothing about wolf and humankind. Neither give up so easily. It’s why we’ve survived for so long.”

“Rey,” Ben growled. “Your mutt daughter. I’ll kill her after you. When I’m done with her, she will be beyond recognition.”

Luke searched his nephew’s amber eyes found a different sort of pain under his fury. Betrayal. After everything he’d done, he still had a soft side for his cousin.

“You say that,” Luke said. “But do you think you can face your own weakness first?”

With a snarl, Ben leaped and lunged at his uncle. He intended to run right into him, forcing the older wolf down with the impact of his weight. It was an old trick of his.

Luke took a calm few steps to the side, causing Ben to miss him entirely. He skidded to a stop and glared at the light-furred wolf, frustrated, and tried again.

Staggering, Ben missed again and recovered his footing to quickly turn into another lunge. His uncle smiled sadly.

“No, you never learn.”

This time, Luke was the one to make the lunge. Jaws open wide, he bit down into his nephew’s shoulder, hoping to injure him enough to keep him down. 

Ben yelped, but quickly turned his pain into a growl. Rolling, he pinned Luke down, fangs barred at him. Blood oozed from his shoulder.

He hoped with all his injuries, Ben would weaken and be easier to fight. His thoughts flashed to Rey, his hope for the future of the pack. When he closed his eyes and thought of her, he only saw the strong young woman she became and wish he had more of a hand in that. Luke had a lot of regrets when it came to his daughter, not that she was at any fault for that.

Facing the open jaws of his nephew, he wished he had more time with her. He would buy her as much time as he could, but already, he felt his luck was running out.

Making one last wish, maybe even a prayer, Luke willed to the universe and any deity listening for his pack to be victorious. He knew they would be. Somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting close to the end of this story!


	27. Chapter 27

The sounds echoing in the forest were of war. Battle cries, howls, and yelps. Sounds that deafened the ears of all the nocturnal life disturbed by this act. The feral pack outnumbered their enemy, but they found they still had to put up a fight.

Out of Leia’s pack, only herself, her niece, the Ticos, and four others stood to keep going. Their odds were terrible, but they still had hope on their side. In the alpha’s experience, sometimes, that was all that was needed. She would have loved to have wolves like Rey and Paige around back in her youth. Strong, spirited, quick-witted, steadfast, these young women were the future of the pack, and Leia couldn’t have been prouder.

With the other wolves by her side, she could fight almost as nimbly as she had been in her 20s. Teamwork allowed them to help one another, keeping the ferals from ganging up on them and tearing away any enemy that pounced upon them.

Rey ripped away a light brown wolf off her aunt’s back, turning his attack on him by biting at his nose. Leia pushed him to the ground by running into his side, allowing Rey to have better access to his throat.

Leia then moved to do the same for Paige, pulling a large black wolf off her so she could find an exposed tender spot. The younger wolf snarled, warning the feral, before she leaped on him.

Right as Rey was about to help her, the most dangerous wolf made his way into the fight. Leia hadn’t expected him to show up so soon, but she knew they would have to face him. 

He was on her. Kylo bit into her back, forcing a yelp from her. Rey toppled to the ground, struggling to right herself against the weight of her cousin. 

“Ben! Stop!” Leia cried.

Her son paid her no mind. He snarled at the wolf under him, placing his paw over her windpipe before he leaned on it. Rey began to choke, trembling as she gasped for breath.

Ben was just as wild and savage as real wolves; his mother felt her heart breaking all over again. She shouted at him to get off his cousin; forcefully pushed against him to get him off her.

Leia’s efforts were enough for Rey to pull herself away. She scrambled to stand, panting, and stared briefly at her aunt as if to thank her. Taking a glance at Ben, who was regaining his footing, Rey sprinted deeper in the woods and only looked back to see if he was following her.

Rage and wrath might have been Ben’s worst traits, and he always gave into them. His anger was his weakness and for that reason, he couldn’t just let Rey go. Growling, he made a dash after her, ignoring the other wolves in his path and where his cousin was leading him.

* * *

She gasped for air. Her lungs protested, restricting with pain as her legs grew more and more exhausted. Kylo had been so close to killing her this time and she couldn’t stop focusing on the fear it placed inside her. 

While she knew she would no doubt encounter him eventually, Rey imagined herself to be more confident than she actually had been. Without her pack to help her, she felt shaken, frightened. There was a certain irony about what a great leader she thought she’d be and here she was, scrambling away in hopes someone else would finish her cousin off.

Finn was nearby, and if she was lucky, Kylo would forget about the sniper in the trees while he focused on her. He might walk right into Finn’s line of fire, and that’s exactly what she wanted.

She hoped it didn’t seem cowardly that she wanted someone else to this killing for her, even if it was her boyfriend. If Kylo had the sense to keep away, at least she could rest for a while in the safety of Finn’s tree.

As she drew closer to the spot, she caught wind of a new but familiar scent. It was Rose, which confused her. She was supposed to be at home.

…Really though, Rey was the last person to buy that her friend would actually follow directions.

It meant there were two humans handy with a gun around. She was glad they were on her side. 

A snarl caught her attention. Just as she thought, her cousin couldn’t help himself from getting revenge.

Now she just needed to draw him in a little closer…

Rey continued her path forward, treading over brush and twigs to take the shortest distance towards her destination. The sound of branches snapping told her he was getting nearer.

Just as she began to sprint out of the way, he was upon her. He bit her legs, grabbing one in his jaws, and dragged her backward. She tried to get a grip on the ground with her forepaws, hoping to use her strength to break out of his grasp.

He was just too strong.

A stray branch caught against the soft skin of her belly as she dragged against the ground, scratching her. She whined, trying harder to get away.

His massive paw flipped her over so she showed her bleeding stomach to him. It was the submissive position that wolves showed to stronger pack members, reminding Rey of how Kylo viewed himself.

“This is the respect you should have showed me,” he told her. “And this is how you will die.”

Right as he was about to continue his assault on her, another black wolf ran into the area and slammed into him, forcing him off Rey. Horrified, she watched the smaller wolf begin to fight him.

Paige was halfway on Kylo’s back, trying to bite the top of his neck. Shakily standing back up, Rey rushed to help her friend.

They were so close to Finn. If they could just lead Kylo a little more…

Acting almost like a herding dog, she nipped and pushed at his legs and hindquarters, hoping Paige would catch on to her plan. Perhaps she had already thought the same thing because once she slid off the larger wolf, she began to push at him as well.

Kylo wasn’t having it. He fought both wolves at once, not seeming to slow down. She could smell blood all over him, but if his injuries had any effect on him, they only served to give him a boost of adrenaline. 

They took turns fighting him, alternating on dodging his attacks. Each time, they tried to move him just a step forward. 

He caught on to their movements, and the next time Rey tried to step out of the way, he moved right into her space and grabbed her by her neck. She tried to kick him but when she made any movement, he bit down tighter. Rey wheezed, feeling lightheaded as she moved her legs in a feeble attempt to get away.

Paige came to her rescue, biting Kylo’s neck and forcing him to let go. Gasping, Rey dragged herself away for a moment to catch her breath. She could tell she was bleeding.

Her friend and cousin were locked in battle. Snarls echoed. Teeth met. 

Just around the corner of a tree, she heard shouting. “Can you get a good shot of them?” It was Finn’s voice. 

“I can’t!” Rose’s fearful and shaking voice replied. “They’re too close together.”

“Just keep looking!”

They were so close, but too far to get a good view of the two black wolves. It would be hard to tell them apart with how similar in color their fur was. Even with Paige being marked with orange paint, it would still be too dangerous for Finn and Rose to attempt shooting.

Paige seemed to understand this too. Taking her attention partly off Kylo, she looked around to figure out where in the trees her sister was. 

Then, she bolted forward, Kylo on her tail.

It was like the world suddenly began to move in slow motion. Giving chase as predicted, Kylo quickly overtook Paige. He grabbed her by the tail, forcing a yelp from her as he dragged her down. 

Before she could pull herself up, Kylo jumped on her back, forcing her to her side. Rey tried to get to them, but she wasn’t quick enough.

Gunshots followed Rose's shouting, one after the other in rapid succession. Startled, Rey jumped out of the open, taking shelter at the base of a tree. Above, Finn’s panic rang across the forest.

“Stop! You’ll hurt the wrong wolf!”

“Paige!”

Standing up again, Rey paced over to the fighting wolves. Her friend lay on the ground, her cousin hovering above. Blood tinted his open fangs and gums...

Silent on the forest floor, Paige Tico wasn’t moving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gee, this took longer than I intended to edit. Between the holiday and trying to finish the final chapter of the Folklore AU, I didn't get around to this as much as I wanted to. For that reason, I feel like this chapter is a little clunky and I apologize.


	28. Chapter 28

Almost in a daze, Rey felt like her body was not her own. Her mind was numb and her legs moved on autopilot as she approached Kylo again. For the first time, she noticed all his wounds and couldn’t contemplate how he was still standing. Was he really that strong?

Nonetheless, she reared on her hind legs to challenge him one more time. This would decide everything. A sense of finality washed over her. Either he wouldn’t walk away or she wouldn’t.

Panting, Kylo mirrored her movements. They met as their front legs drifted back towards the ground, teeth clattering together as they both tried to bite the other’s face.

They snarled at each other. With his injuries, Rey was a match for him, much like the night he attacked her and Finn.

Continuing to bite and scratch, they reared over and over to overtake the other. Rey knew there was blood all over her face. She could feel the warm slickness of it against her muzzle. Still, she couldn’t stop now.

A _thud_ on the ground, followed by another, took her attention away for a split-seconds. Leaping from the safety of the tree, Rose rushed over to her sister with Finn keeping his gun trained on the two wolves. Rey knew he would never hurt her; the bullet was intended for their enemy.

Kylo paused in his actions, noticing the gun aimed at them. He huffed. “You’re having your human finish this for you. How fitting. You were never as strong as you thought you were.”

It wasn’t about strength anymore, Rey thought. Now it was about being smarter. Honor didn’t matter; it certainly never had to him.

And now she needed to give Fin an opening where Kylo also couldn’t run.

She found one last burst of strength within herself. Pushing back against him the next time they lunged at each other, she tried to put distance between them. Kylo might have caught on to what she was doing. He tried to keep close to her, using her like a shield. At least, that’s what she thought he was trying to do.

Once more, she kicked at his face before bursting into a fit of speed to move away from him. He didn’t let her attack phase him, and kept sticking close by her.

This made everything trickier. They knew each other almost too well. 

It would be better to let him make the first move. Pacing, she moved around in circles, allowing Kylo to follow her closely. Their eyes met, the amber tones of his irises catching in the moonlight, making them almost light up gold. She growled low, a warning.

It almost seemed to trigger him into the fight. He put one paw forward and tried to make a quick grab at her neck. She pulled away, and prompted herself to make a dash into him, straight into one of his injuries. 

A pained yowl tore from his throat, forcing him to pause in his movements. The pain was too much for him to ignore. 

In a pack fight such as an Alpha’s Dance, Rey would have thought what she was about to do was a dirty, cheap move, but the situation called for it and if Kylo didn’t care about rules anymore, she didn’t see the need to either.

Rey pushed at his injury again, forcing him back until he wobbled from the pain. She hit his shoulder roughly, causing his weight to give as he stumbled to the ground. 

Rolling him, she towered over him, putting him in a submissive position. “You were saying?” she roared.

For the first time in her life, she saw fear flicker in his eyes. No longer the proud, strong alpha male he always wanted to be, she saw a human side of him that reminded her of who he once was. It saddened her to think that this is what hate and loathing turned him into. Then, as quickly as her own remorse set within her, anger replaced that.

Kylo tried to kick her off him. He turned himself while on his back, striking at her leg as he attempted to pull himself up.

He aimed his fangs for her muzzle, lunging upright as he snapped at her. Rey moved her head away, using her front paws to pin him back down.

When it looked like she already was victorious, Kylo tossed in a surprise of his own. He pulled himself up as he also tilted his body, rolling them over so Rey was where he once was on the ground. 

And so their fight went on like this for some time. Rolling on the ground until their fur was matted with dirt and dead leaves. Giving and taking dominance. Finn still stood behind them, his gun held steadily. Waiting.

He must have been too close to biting her in a vital spot for her mate’s comfort. Suddenly, she felt her cousin’s weight fly nearly off her, only to see that Finn had hit him with the body of his rifle. He tried to correct his hold on it to get his aim back, but Kylo moved too quick. Soon, the black wolf was staring at the human, ready to attack.

Rey wouldn’t have it. 

She jumped on him, rolling him back over and hoped Finn would back away. He got hurt the last time they were in this situation. This time, she would make sure she was strong enough to protect him.

The next time Kylo tried to bite at her neck, she reached for him. Grabbing the side of his throat, she pulled him downwards before shifting her weight to return the favor for how he treated her earlier by stepping on his neck. She felt an odd sense of pleasure when she heard him choke.

She waited a moment, allowing Kylo to taste his defeat by the one he always thought he could better.

It didn’t stop him from wheezing out one last insult.

“Too afraid to take my life?”

In the corner of her eyesight, Rose stood up from the side of her sister’s body, her own gun clutched in her hands. Slowly, she moved over to Finn and whispered something to him. 

Nodding, he pulled a single bullet out of one of his pockets and placed it inside the chamber of her waiting gun. She loaded it up and looked to Rey for further instruction on where to go from there.

Rey knew what she needed to do. She looked down at her cousin one last time, the traitor he became to his pack. 

“It’s not mine to take,” she told him before she looked to Rose and nodded.

Her friend approached and settled the muzzle on his head making sure it was aimed away from Rey. Kylo growled one more time before he went quiet and waited, like he was reflecting on how he got there. If there was regret, he didn’t show it. 

Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Rey did the same.

The sound of a gunshot so close was terrifying, but nothing frightened her more than the shake that rumbled hollowly through him and the eerie stillness that followed. There was no more movement from him, no more rises and falls of breath. Just stillness.

Kylo Ren died with his eyes open, staring defiantly at his own family until the end. How so much hate could fill a person, Rey hoped she would never know.

A gentle hand touched her back, stroking her fur. “Rey?”

She realized she had been staring at the body of her cousin for a while, numbness mixed with regret and relief almost stilling her thoughts. Turning, she found Finn’s warm arms waiting for her.

Falling into them, he wrapped himself around her, sitting on the ground as he allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder. His hands were soothing as he ran them along her body, looking for wounds or injuries that needed to be attended to right away.

“I’m sorry it all turned out like this,” he told her. “But Rey, we have to help Rose get back to her car. Paige is alive and we can’t get medical attention out here quick enough.”

Her ears perked up as she quickly turned her head to see Rose back at her sister’s side, applying pressure on bandaged wound. Tears left streaks down her human face, glistening in the moonlight.

Rey stood up and padded over to her friends, her mate keeping close to her. She stared down at Paige’s wounds and new by the amount of blood that soaked the bandages and her sister’s hands that it was bad. They needed to be quick.

Walking away urgently, she moved to a clearing where she could see the night sky clearly, the stars bright against a midnight backdrop. She raised her head upward, looking at them for a moment, before she found her voice.

Her howl carried through the forest on the breeze, letting the packs know all was over and victory was hers. It was a warning to the feral pack and a calling to her own. 

Leia’s voice answered back, letting her know they were not alone. She waited a few more moments to hear one voice carry over, but only found silence meeting her call. 

Pain tugging at her heart, Rey howled again, desperate for an answer.

The voice she was waiting to hear back from never came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, yes I did that.
> 
> We are almost to the end of this fic! Finally!


	29. Chapter 29

Trying to keep her secure in his arms, Finn was careful as he took Paige back to Rose's car. He kept her tilted against hist chest, angled so he wouldn't put pressure on her back and neck where her worst injuries were.

Staying close, Rose walked next to him, continuing to apply pressure on her sister's wounds as she awkwardly moved forward. They knew they needed to be quick; they didn't know how much blood she'd already lost, but it seemed like a lot. Every minute counted.

He wasn't sure where Rey ran off to, only that she acted urgent as she took off after she made her victory howl. Rose wasn't positive either, but she assumed Rey would search for the rest of their pack or any feral wolves still wanting to put up a fight.

It was a blessing they hadn't taken up hiding too deep into the woodlands, but the slow walk back still seemed to go by sluggishly. Each time he looked upon Paige's ashen face, he was reminded that there came a point where blood loss became to great and it would be too late. The thought filled him with dread.

"It should be right around here," Rose said, pointing to a clearing in the trees.

Finn never thought he'd be thankful to see a car parked in the middle of nowhere, but when the red crossover SUV came into sight, he breathed heavily.

For the first time since they left the tree they hid in, Rose left her sister's side. She unlocked her car doors, opening the closest back one and leaned in to pull a blanket off the floor to drape over the back seat. 

Together, they moved Paige onto it, trying to secure her with a seat belt without touching her injuries. As soon as the door was shut, Rose bolted to the driver's seat to turn the ignition.

He held up his hand in parting as he watched her back up a few feet before pulling out to the dirt trail.

Alone, Finn turned back to the woods, wondering where to go from there. He kept his rifle slung over his shoulder, just in case. So far, he had seen no signs for concern.  
What he wanted to do, however, was find his friends.

Heading back in, he decided to go where the pack left their vehicles, hoping some of them had already made their way there. It wasn't much farther away, maybe another five minutes or so. As close to the edge of the forest as it was, it was as safe as he could get.

Be as that may, he still ran into a hobbling wolf about a minute into his trek. He and the dark brown wolf exchanged glances for a moment, before the wolf wagged its tail to show the orange paint. 

Finn took a deep breath and steadied himself. He studied the wolf for a moment, trying to recall who this one was.

“Poe?” he gasped.

The wolf wagged his tail more rapidly, approaching Finn. He wasn’t putting weight on one of his legs, bringing alarm to his friend.

“Here, let me help.”

He tried to lift Poe into his arms, but found quickly that his friend was far heavier than Paige had been. Finn grunted before he sat the wolf back down.

“Okay, so that’s not going to work.” He looked at Poe apologetically. “Can you keep going? If not, I can run ahead and see if I can find something to… slide you back on.”

Poe nodded his head and kept hobbling forward. Sticking close by, Finn made sure he covered his friend as they walked back to his car. He wasn’t sure how Poe was going to drive. They might have to find someone for him to ride to the hospital with. Finn would do it if no one else was around, but he was hesitant to leave without Rey.

They stopped to rest frequently, Finn taking this time to check over Poe’s injuries. The worst seemed to be his leg, but there were plenty of bite marks and his fur was matted with dried blood. He had been in a fight or two and Finn wondered with who. That would be a story for another time.

He felt a sense of gratitude again, when he saw the pack’s cars come into view. “We’re there, Poe,” he sighed with relief. 

Before they left, Poe left his car unlocked with the keys under the driver’s seat. All the pack did this so they could help one another and not waste time looking for keys. Finn left the back door open and gave his friend a boost into the back seat.

“I know you’re going to Change,” said Finn, “but are you going to be able to drive with your leg like that?”

The look Poe gave him told him not to doubt his abilities.

He held up his hands in surrender. “I know. I know. You can drive just fine with one foot.”

Shutting the door, Finn looked back out in woods and wondered where Rey could have gone off to.

* * *

The two women stared upon the body of the light, golden brown wolf. Numbly, they took in the stillness of his form and the bite marks on his neck. 

They hadn’t known what had befallen Luke, but now that they were here, they had some idea. Kylo made it clear that he wanted to erase his ties with his family. Permanently. His uncle had been a source of fear for him, a threat to his power. He’d taught Kylo so much that he knew him almost better than anyone else.

"Was it...? Rey couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.

Her aunt knew what she meant though. "I'm sure."

A part of her believed her father was merely asleep; that any moment, he would get up and tell her everything was all right. Rey wondered when the child in her reappeared, when she stopped resenting her father for abandoning her. Probably when she understood how painful it was when his mate died, she answered herself. A life without Finn was something she couldn't imagine anymore - didn't want to imagine. Perhaps she had been on the road to forgiving her father after all.

Love is complicated.

Part of her chastised herself for feeling this way. Had he wanted to be her father, Luke would have tried harder, she used to tell herself. He would have put his grief aside because his daughter needed him too. It was only in adulthood that she realized he understood his mistakes and regretted him, trying to make up to her. She pushed him away usually, fearing he would only hurt her again, and he respected her enough to give her that.

Her eyes watered, chest pulsing with whines. Leia leaned into her lightly, careful not to put pressure on their injuries. When Rey turned to look at her, she saw her fur soaked along her eyes. Real wolves couldn't cry, but they were not those kind. The human in their hearts could still grieve alongside their other more animalistic nature.

It was complicated. Rey wished she had a better way to describe the relationship between her and her father but found that no word she knew matched.

She pulled away from her aunt and laid on the ground next to him, her head flat against the dirt. Coming down from the fight, she started to notice the ache in her muscles and how her cuts and scrapes stung. Rey didn't mind that much though. Those were minimal compared to the hurt she felt as she lay next to her father.

Before she heard him rustle through the foliage, she smelled her mate getting near. She wished she could speak in human tongue; she wanted him to stay with the pack's cars where it would be safer. Leia believed the surviving feral wolves ran for it when Rey called Kylo's defeat, but a straggler or two could still be nearby. Technically, her pack claimed this territory for their own, though they had no intention to stay. They would search for any lingering wolves later and deal with them appropriately.

Finn stopped next to her, not speaking. She wondered if he recognized the wolf she was mourning. Probably would, by the missing leg. 

He gasped, choking. He knew.

Placing a warm hand on her back, Finn kneeled. “I-" he tried, but couldn’t find it in him to continue. 

They sat there together in silence, Leia eventually coming over to join them. She lay next to her niece, their noses touching.

“You should go home, Rey,” she said, after a couple of silent minutes. 

“But-" She looked down at her father, sadly. There were measures in place to collect the bodies of their fallen, but she didn’t ask before the fight. Still, she had a hard time leaving him.

Leia pressed her face against her niece’s. “I’ll stay here with him. You two go home.”

Rey almost began to argue with her, but she paused. Her aunt sounded tired, and her tone suggested that she perhaps wanted some time alone with her brother. They both lost a lot tonight.

Respecting her aunt’s wishes, she stood up. “Call me when you get home,” she said before she nudged Finn in the side to give him a hint.

* * *

They stumbled back to their car together, muscles feeling almost as sore and heavy as their hearts. Finn said nothing. Knew there was nothing he could say to fix this. The Skywalker family was helmed by generations of tragedy. He wished the generations to come after Rey would never know such sorrow.

Finn opened the car door and let Rey leap in before he sat on the back seat next to her. It wasn’t freezing inside, but he wished he thought to bring a blanket for comfort.

As Rey began the Changing process, he waited to see if she wanted him to give her space or not. There didn’t seem to be any serious injuries like the last encounter they had together with Kylo, but he still wanted to stay close to help her if she needed it. 

Leaning her head against his thigh, she grunted uncomfortably as the first ripples of transformation traveled through her bones and muscles. He stroked the fur on her neck, hoping to soothe her while he also looked over her bites and cuts again.

It was a gradual Change, far less rapid and painful like the ones of the full moon. Her limbs slowly straightened, making them seem gangly and alien. Her face grew rounder. She resembled an unsettling hybrid, neither wolf nor human – something Finn might have had nightmares of if he never met her.

“I want to say I’m proud of you,” he finally told her. “But I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to say. I know it wasn’t easy for you.”

She nodded against him, her face already a little less furry.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” Finn whispered. “That’s all that matters.”

When her mouth was reshaped and she could speak again, she hoarsely responded, “I wanted everyone to come home.” Then, she began to cry again, even as her spine cracked with transformation.

“I know.” Finn didn’t know what else to say. He was crying too. He hadn’t known Luke long, but he was touched by how he immediately accepted him into the family once Rey declared him as her mate. Father and daughter had a strained relationship, but Finn saw the longing when they gazed at each other, desperate for connection.

And now, they wouldn’t get that chance. Finn wondered if Rey forgave her father for not being there when she was a child. She knew she wanted to, but could never articulate her feelings into words.

He wondered what hurt her more: losing her father or realizing there would never be time to patch things up.

Stroking down Rey’s naked, human back, he saw in her eyes exhaustion, though not just from the physical. The Change took its toll on her though. She was always tired after going through it.

“Do you want to take a nap?” he asked.

She nodded, but her hands gripped slightly on the skin of his thighs. “Will you stay?” she asked him, before she added a quiet, “please.”

Finn could not deny her that. If he were honest with himself, he just wanted to be close to her too. He grabbed his phone out of the front seat of the car. Without a signal, it was useless except for the basics. “I’m going to set an alarm. Half-hour seem okay?”

Rey nodded again.

Lying back, he knew it was a tight squeeze to sleep here, fortunately, Rey had her own idea on sleeping arrangements. She piled herself on top of Finn, settling her head on his chest. With his gentle hands touching her skin and hair, it only seemed like a few moments before she drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one more chapter to go! This is basically the big wrap up of the fic now. Thank you to those who have been following this fic since it began.


	30. Chapter 30

It was two weeks after the fight when Luke was finally laid to rest. The following days were almost as trying at the battle itself. Remaining feral wolves that didn’t have the sense to keep away from their lost territory were tracked and hunted down, sentenced as Leia and the other most senior pack members saw fit. They were judge by what the old laws called for. Their end was quick. Those wolves would be given a burial once their families were contacted, if they had any family. Finn learned in the days after that many of them were estranged or disowned for straying from the old laws. The feral pack gave them a new sense of family and belonging, which he guessed was why so many found that life appealing.

Then came their own series of funerals. Bo. Jem. Cova. Bollie. Riva. Luke. Some names unfamiliar even to Rey. Still, they mourned them for their sacrifice.

She and Leia had a private funeral for Ben with only their closest friends and family in attendance. Finn kept close to Rey while Lando and Chewie helped Leia with the arrangements. He found he was touched by their kindness towards the memory of the boy they loved, not the man he became. It was hard to understand how they could treat Ben like two people, but he was Leia’s son and Rey’s cousin, and despite all he did, they once held him close to their hearts.

Luke’s service came last. As respected as he had been by wolfkind, many wished to attend to see him off. For this reason, Leia agreed to put it off until last and plan for a larger crowd.

When Finn broke the news to his mothers, he was surprised to find they wanted to fly out to support Rey. They had only met once before, but they seemed to like each other. 

At the airport, the four of them embraced tightly. 

“Rey, how are you holding up?” His mother, Sana asked. 

She shrugged. “About what you could expect.”

He was never more thankful for his mom, Chelli. “We don’t have to talk about it right now,” she reminded them. 

Rey hadn’t wanted to talk about her father yet. It worried Finn a little that she hadn’t wanted to talk about him at all. He understood that everyone had their own process of grieving, but he wasn’t sure if she was allowing herself to or trying to ignore the pain.

Then, his mom winked. “I can do all the talking, if you want. Just got back from a crazy adventure. Lots of old ruins. I’m practically Indiana Jones.”

Sana rolled her eyes. “Pretty sure Indiana Jones doesn’t trip over old cobblestones all the time.”

Finn laughed at his mothers’ antics as he helped them load their luggage into the trunk of his car.

While they didn’t stay in the apartment with their son and his girlfriend, it being far too small to house four, they stuck around during the day to help with funeral preparations. He noticed they kept a close watch over Rey, sending each other worried glances from time to time.

When it came time to prepare to leave for the service, Finn put on the suit he’d worn too many times already in one year. He made sure everything was straight and his collar wasn’t tucked in on accident.

Sana knocked on the door once and entered when her son gave permission. She glanced him up and down sadly. “I was hoping the next time I saw you it would be for… something happier.”

The word _wedding_ hung in the air. It wasn’t like it hadn’t been on Finn’s mind one time or another, but the past year really hadn’t been the right time to think about it.

“I know,” he sighed.

His mother frowned. “Has… everything been all right between you?” 

He ran a hand over his hair. “As good as it could be, considering the circumstances.” Glancing into his open closet, he spotted the bag with the gift he got her weeks ago. He still wanted to give it to her, but it never seemed like the right time.

And if his mother had her doubts, he couldn’t blame her. As much as he wanted to give Rey her space to grieve, something just wasn’t working between them again and this time, he couldn’t figure out what. There was no anger, no fighting, just an invisible wall between them.

Perhaps this is what grief did to couples. Maybe in a few weeks, it would pass.

“Mom,” he said, “I know you mean well, but I think Rey’s just been tired the last few weeks. She’s lost three family members in less than a year.” They were calling Luke and Ben’s deaths accidents to explain the state of their bodies if anyone got suspicious, but both were cremated to hide the evidence. It was still a tragic year for her family regardless if that was the truth or not.

“I know.” Sana pulled a stray hair off his jacket. “We just… want to make sure you’re okay. Both of you.”

Turning around, he pulled her into a hug. 

No one spoke about pack business at the funeral. It was an unstated rule when humans were around, at least, those who were not affiliated with a pack. Everyone greeted Finn’s mothers with respect, appreciating their support of Rey and her family.

Though Rey and Leia were the center of the sympathies, they kept their eyes out for the Tico family. After spending two weeks in critical care, Paige was allowed to go home. She was far from recovered, but only time would help her now.

“There they are,” Rey mumbled when she spotted them.

Finn tried to make sure he wasn’t staring too much, but he found it hard not to. Pushed by Rose, Paige sat quietly in a wheelchair, dressed in black as the occasion called for. A blood transfusion was successful, but her injuries left her with monoplegia in her right leg. With physical therapy, she should be able to walk again, but she would always rely on a walker to get around.

With his limited knowledge of the way Changes worked, he had questions about the possibility of her continuing to be a wolf. With an amputated arm, Luke had been able to make the transformation. Rey wasn’t sure what Paige’s future held for her. Maybe with time, she could Change again, but for now, while her body was healing, it would be put to a halt. At least she could still do her work without use of one of her legs. Paige wanted to continue studying the werewolf gene, hoping with her research, they could start to understand the most biological aspects of their kind. 

“I’m glad to see you, Paige,” he said when she and Rose approached.

She reached out to take his hand. “I had to get here,” she replied. “For Luke.”

As Rey and Finn lightly hugged her and Rose, Poe made his way over to do the same. The friends stood together, not needing to talk but just to support one another.

Finn sat with Rey, Leia, and Chewie at the front of the pew rows during the service. He numbly listened to speeches made by friends, those who knew him in his youth. There was so much Finn didn’t know about the man.

But all of them talked about how much he loved his daughter and how proud he was of her.

After the service, Rey excused herself and vanished into an empty room. He knew she was crying in there, but wanted to hide it. Sensing she wanted to be alone, Finn continued to be social but kept his eye on the door the whole time. 

When she emerged, her eyes bloodshot, he was back at her side. No questions needed to be asked.

Luke’s urn was placed next to his wife’s in the cemetery crypts. It wasn’t a long ceremony. Leia and Rey placed the urn inside together and placed bouquets around both spouses. 

That night, Finn was woken up by the sound of sobbing next to him.

“Rey,” he whispered, turning over to find her face buried in her pillow. He stroked her hair until she looked up at him.

“I should have given him another chance,” she breathed. “I didn’t know…”

Pulling her close, Finn allowed her to lay her head on his chest. “You can’t think like that,” he soothed. “Your father knew you cared.”

“But what if he-?" she started.

“Shh…”

After a few minutes of quiet crying, she looked up at Finn. There were tears streaming down his face.

Pulling herself upward, she kissed him. “I love you.”

The only response he could think of was just to hold her tighter.

* * *

The pack took a full month of mourning before the Alpha’s Dance was called. There were far less participants than originally anticipated with so many of their own lost in the battle. Poe was still in, along with Hype and surprisingly, Freya. Some thought she might have decided to partake out of a sense of obligation. She never acted interested in the job, but she might want to make the other two work for it.

Poe had mostly healed up, but sometimes he complained of stiffness in his limb. This made Finn nervous. The fight meant to be moderated and stopped before serious injury could occur, but accidents happened.

Hype and Freya towered over Poe, who was a man of average height and weight. That put him at a physical disadvantage. However, he was counting on his sincere love for his pack over Hype’s cockiness and Freya’s lack of interest to pull him through. Finn would agree that sometimes, passion was all anyone needed.

He and Rey attended the Alpha’s Dance to watch the next alpha take leadership, but oddly, she refused to transform into her wolfskin like the rest of the pack. Lately, he noticed she seemed uninterested in pack affairs and chalked it up to her grief. During the full moon, she made the Change, but this time didn’t seem too upset that she was still under house arrest. She quietly spent the evening tucked under Finn’s arm as they streamed a cute new romcom. The outcome of the pack fight left her exhausted, but she also changed the subject every time someone tried to bring up werewolf business.

The pack met in a forest about an hour away from Finn and Rey’s apartment. She leaned against him as they sat together on a decaying log. She smelled of fir and fresh air – the scent of the perfume he picked out for her, a gift she accepted tearfully. Rose stood behind them, next to her sister.

In their wolf forms, the pack formed a circle around the alpha contenders. They were quiet, watching the fight begin with bated breath. Whoever won would be their next leader and herald the future of the pack.

Poe, Hype, and Freya circled around the perimeter the other wolves made. They looked back and forth between their opponents, looking for weak points and flaws. 

“Why aren’t they fighting?” Finn whispered to Rey.

“Leia has to call it.” She laughed quietly. “She’s stalling for dramatic effect.”

He watched the petite brown wolf gaze at each potential alpha. Figuring she had some bias over who she wanted to win, Finn glanced at Poe one more time. 

With a simple _bark,_ Leia called the fight to begin.

Hype and Freya targeted Poe from the get-go. They must have singled him out not only for being smaller, but also for being the biggest threat. Both made jumping lunges for him almost in unison.

He only had one direction to go if he wanted to avoid them. Dashing to his left, he barely avoided Freya’s open jaws.

It gave him a moment to adjust his tactics, as Hype and Freya met in the middle and focused on each other. Teeth met, clanking against each other. They snarled and pushed with all their strength to topple their opponent.

Backing up a step, Poe launched himself back in, running into Freya’s side. Her front leg bent, forcing her to the ground.

Lightly, she nipped at Hype’s neck, trying to drag him down with her. When the dark brown wolf backed away, she turned to attention to Poe. 

She pulled herself up, moving towards him. Taking a few steps to the side, the gold wolf mirrored him. Like a dance, they followed each other, not letting the other to get past them or get the upper hand.

Right as Hype was about to reenter the fray, Poe used the minor distraction to his advantage. He grabbed at Freya’s leg, causing her to stumble. The other wolf saw this too, and he flipped her over to her back.

Something about the golden wolf changed in her demeanor. Instead of continuing to snap at them, she remained on her back, showing her stomach. Then, she opened her mouth and whined.

“Freya’s forfeiting,” Rey explained. 

Finn watched the other two wolves allow her to get up and walk away, the pack parting the circle to let her join them.

Hype and Poe walked around the circle again. They paced around the pack, waiting to see what their opponent would do now. 

But Hype was strutting around, behaving far more confident than he should have. He picked his legs up, almost prancing for the crowd. Too cocky. Poe seemed to be thinking of this as he watched the other wolf.

The next time they circled around, Poe cut across and jumped on Hype’s back. 

Rolling to his side, the other wolf was taken by surprise. Poe made quick work of him.

Hype had been taken completely off-guard, and he wasn’t quick enough to get himself back on his feet before Poe continued his assault. He tried to meet Poe’s teeth, but the smaller wolf was quicker, craftier. It didn’t take long at all before Hype rolled over to show his stomach, ears pinned back.

Finn wasn’t sure if he was supposed to clap or cheer or remain quiet and he looked to the pack to figure out protocol. Silence continued in the pack, but Leia rose and approached Poe. It looked like she was speaking to him as their noses touched.

She backed away and rejoined her pack. When she was back in line, the wolves fell on their backs, showing their stomachs to invoke submission to their new Alpha.

“We used to howl, in the old days,” Rey told Finn with a note of wistfulness in her voice. “If we do now, we might be discovered.” She sounded tired again as she said this, her explanations of wolf culture becoming less and less enthusiastic by the day. 

Their friend walked over to them, pride holding his head up. Among those either human or remaining human, Poe did not treat them any differently than he ever did, even if he was the pack Alpha now.

“Congratulations, leader,” Paige greeted him. He looked at her in the wheelchair, almost pained, before he brushed up against her leg with affection.

Rey and Finn reached out together to touch their friend when he approached them. “Knew you could do it,” Finn told him with a genuine smile.

“You’ll be a good Alpha,” Rey croaked.

Poe whined, like he was expressing his sympathies to her again. She reached out to stroke his fur. 

“I’ll be okay,” she said.

The wolf didn’t seem so convinced, but he heaved a sigh before he rubbed against Finn and Rey and went back to the other wolves.

She stared at the loving picture of pack and belonging before she turned back to Finn. “Can we go home?” she asked him.

“Don’t you want to stay?” Finn was surprised.

Shaking her head, Rey shot one last glance to her family. “There’s not much more for me to do here.”

* * *

After he got home from classes one evening, Finn found Rey sitting on their couch, staring at a piece of paper in her hands. He thought it might be something from her job, the document looked official and legal.

Before he could ask, she spoke up.

“My father left me his home,” she said. “I’ve known for a while, but I couldn’t get myself to tell you. It was… too hard.”

Finn couldn’t blame her for that. In the last few weeks, he could tell that the outcome of the pack fight left her absolutely heartbroken. She hadn’t been herself and when she wasn’t at work, often she threw herself into working at Han’s old shop with Chewie. There were weeks where Finn barely saw her at all. He wasn’t angry with her, but he felt almost as tired as she was. There were days when he felt the invisible wall between them again, days when he wished he could take a break and forget about the wolf stuff.

“Do you want to live there?” he asked her.

She nodded. “We’ll save money; we’ll only have to pay bills and property taxes.”

This time, he had his own news to break with her. “It’s a good idea, Rey,” he began before he took a large sigh. “But I’m not going with you. Not at this time, anyway.”

Her head snapped around to look at him with a gasp. “What?” she asked shakily.

“I think… well, I’ve been thinking… Everything that’s happened has been rough. I’m tired. You are too. And I was thinking maybe we need some time to figure things out on our own.”

“Are we breaking up?” Rey’s voice quivered.

Scratching the back of his neck, Finn sighed again. He moved over to sit next to her on the couch, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and taking her hand in his free one. “I guess… or maybe a break. We can check in in a few months and see how we feel.” He turned to look at her in the eyes, seeing them water and feeling like he was about to tear up himself. “It’s not about you being a wolf. It never was that. But it was hard for me to watch you run off, put yourself in danger…”

“I know.” She nodded. “It wasn’t easy for me either. I wish I wasn’t a wolf.”

“It’s who you are.”

“This side of me destroyed my family. Look what it turned my cousin into. The world will never accept us and we always have to hide.” Rey leaned into his chest. “I wish people were like you, Finn.”

“You know I love you, right?” he asked. “I don’t like this, but I think it’s what we need to do for a bit.”

Rey sighed. “I love you too, and I’ll admit, I’ve wanted to be alone a lot lately. It’s nothing about you. The pack is giving me space out of mourning, but I know they’ll expect me to return. I’m not sure if I want to. At least being alone, I can forget the other part of me.”

Leaning her head up, she kissed him softly, and he returned it.

“Are you going to stay here?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I couldn’t afford rent,” he admitted. “But I talked to Poe a few weeks ago, and he said he’d let me room with him again. He won’t bring up werewolf stuff with me unless I ask.”

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before they separated. The rest of the night gave them a sense of finality and though they both agreed this would be for the best, both wondered if they could get back together later. Finn had heard about life events that made it impossible for the couple to make things right. Tragedies, usually. The death of a child or an accident. It wasn’t that either party was at fault, but there was just too much to keep them from being able to move on.

Finn hoped Rey didn’t think her being a werewolf was a problem; he told her as much as he could for emphasis. It also worried him that she might not feel better because of the bond between a mated pair. She might want to be alone now, but she was able to come home to him. What would an indefinite separation do to her emotional state?

She also seemed to sense this about him, and assured him she would be fine. There were treatments wolves were looking to in situations like these. They had to adapt to modern life just like everyone else.

And when the day came when they moved out, they helped one another, holding hands when they stared at their empty apartment one last time.

* * *

Fall rolled around again, and Finn was excited to start his final year of school. Things were getting better for him. He was going to be paired into a good internship by his department heads and he was getting the right treatment for his mental health again. Sleep was coming easier to him and he didn’t feel so exhausted each morning.

It was far from _perfect _though, and nothing went back to being great. He enjoyed living with Poe again, feeling a lot more joyous to go out with friends on the weekend. Poe, however, was often busy with pack stuff. He and Finn didn’t discuss it much, but it came up from time to time. He was pressured to choose a beta soon and since Paige had been his first choice, he felt hesitant to choose another quickly. Finn knew he hoped Rey would return to join them soon; he would love to make her beta leader because she cared about the pack almost as much as he did.__

__On the topic of Rey, Finn’s heart would always beat just a little faster. He wasn’t sure if he was ready yet to contact her, but he couldn’t deny he missed her. Poe mentioned she went on anti-depressants to treat the separation anxiety stemming from the mate bond, but she still kept her distance from her werewolf side. On full moon nights, she stayed home, even though Poe said he was willing to lift the terms of her punishment so she wouldn’t be alone. Finn never told him about her wish not to be a wolf anymore. Part of him believed she would return to the pack. She loved her family, even if they weren’t her blood, and she carried a sense of obligation to protect them that many of the others didn’t show._ _

__Even if he didn’t know that much about werewolf stuff, Finn knew she’d make a great beta if she accepted the role._ _

__He walked down the street, thinking about finding a café to sit at and read some of his books when he saw her coming towards him. She didn’t see him at first, but he found he couldn’t keep himself from waving to get her attention._ _

__“Finn,” her voice was small, but she smiled warmly._ _

__“How are you, Rey?” he asked._ _

__Shrugging, she looked like she wasn’t sure how to answer. “All right,” she admitted. “Things are getting easier. What about you?”_ _

__“About the same.”_ _

__They stared at each other a little awkwardly before Rey made a move to leave. “Nice seeing you-"_ _

__“Rey, wait.”_ _

__She stared at him hopefully. Finn wasn’t sure what to say to her. He wasn’t ready to try again, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to yet, but he wanted her in his life. It was all rather complicated._ _

__So, he asked her what seemed to be the most appropriate invitation for the situation. “I’m grabbing some coffee,” he told her. “Do you want some?”_ _

__With a smile, she nodded. “I’d like that.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is the end of this story and thanks for everyone who has read this and commented regularly. The ending was always bittersweet, but I personally have always enjoyed open endings more. 
> 
> While I'm no longer writing fanfiction regularly, I will return from time to time with new stories for finnrey, jedistormpilot, and a couple of other ships.

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike my other multichapters, this story does not have a set update day at the moment. I wrote this story about half a year ago and originally didn't publish it because I didn't think it was that good. After chopping out an unnecessary subplot, I felt the story was better and decided to go ahead and add it on AO3. Chapter updates will occur as I edit and do rewrites.
> 
> It's not my best story, but it's also not my worst.


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